Merry Fisticuffs
by brittaden
Summary: Lorelai happens to walk up on the fight between Luke and Christopher in 'Merry Fisticuffs." No longer a one-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**So I was watching the 'Merry Fisticuffs' episode today and had a thought for a one-shot. Lorelai happens to walk up on Luke and Christopher as they are fighting.**

**I'm working on my other two stories so updates for them should be soon. I know I should work on those before trying something else but switching between stories helps when I get stuck writing a chapter.**

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Lorelai was driving through town after leaving the Inn. She was there doing inventory, avoiding going home for a while knowing that Christopher was probably already there and there was bound to be another fight between them. Christopher was the one to walk out while they were helping to plan for their wedding party after all. She knew that he was upset over their whole having-a-baby debacle from the night before but that didn't mean he had to bring it up in front of her mother. Then he had to bring up the fact that she was excited to plan a wedding to Luke but not to him. As much as she did not want to admit, Christopher was right. She was so happy once she and Rory made up meaning that she could plan her wedding to Luke. Hell, she was so excited that she managed to plan the wedding in one day; everything fell into place, as if it was meant to be. That wedding of course never happened, no matter how much she wanted it to happen, it never did. Her wedding to Christopher had happened however and now she was stuck planning that one. She didn't see the need for a wedding at all but Christopher was insistent on having one.

Lorelai came to a stop on the deserted street when she saw Luke's truck parked in front of the diner. All the thoughts of her planning her wedding to him came rushing back. How excited she was that she managed to plan it in one day, how she found the perfect dress in just a matter of minutes, how she loved the dress she picked out so much that she just had to show Luke when he came home. Maybe she should have believed the superstition that the groom was not supposed to see the dress before the wedding, maybe by now she would actually be married to Luke. She shook the thought out of her head when she noticed two figures scuffling around the town square. Upon closer inspection, she made the figures out to be Luke and Christopher; her ex-fiancé and her husband. She got out of her jeep and slammed the door before making her way over to the town square. As she made her way into the town square, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," began to play from one of the displays.

"Hey!" Lorelai yelled trying to get their attention but failing. "Stop it!" she yelled even louder as she made her way closer to them. When it was obvious that they did not hear her, she screamed as loud as she could, "Luke! Christopher! Stop it!" She stomped her foot and clenched her fists as she screamed at them.

As "Deck The Halls," began to play, Luke and Christopher stopped fighting and turned to see Lorelai standing in the middle of the town square yelling at the both of them. They stopped circling one another and stood in place as she made her way over to them.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" she asked looking at Christopher, "Both of you," she added now directing her gaze at Luke. Luke ducked his head avoiding her gaze. She glanced between them both as she started talking again, "Fighting in the town square? Seriously?"

"Lor," Christopher said stepping closer to her.

Lorelai raised her hand towards him, "Don't Lor me, not right now." She placed her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. "What has gotten into both of you? Fighting in the town square is one thing but fighting in front of the Christmas display and almost destroying it? I mean it's the Christmas display for crying out loud."

Luke and Christopher just stood there as she talked, both afraid to open their mouths to say anything at this point. They could tell Lorelai was furious as to walked she just walked up on. They glanced at one another before both focusing back on Lorelai.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "I don't even know what to say right now and that's a first for me. I always know what to say," she paused, "I'm disappointed," she said softening her tone, "in both of you," she stared at Luke. True, she was disappointed in both of them but more so in Luke, she knew he had punched Christopher after she admitted she slept with him but to engage in an actual fight with him upset her. Not because it was Christopher that he was fighting with but because it was Luke, her Luke that she didn't think would ever do anything like this. No he wasn't her Luke anymore; he wasn't really her anything anymore. No longer her best friend or coffee supplier, he was just Luke, her ex-fiancé. At least that's the appearance they both put on.

Luke hung his head again in shame, avoiding her gaze. He never wanted to disappoint Lorelai. He never meant to; the fact that she even stared at him as she talked about how disappointed she was shot straight through his heart. He knew that look all too well; it was the look she gave him the night of the ultimatum; the way that she looked anytime that they fought over the years; the way she looked when they broke up the first time and was begging him to just listen to her. He hated that look and hated himself for causing that look to cross her face once again.

"I get it, you know," Lorelai said exasperated. "You two do not like each other. Wait, no, you two hate each other; that fits a lot better. I get that. There are plenty of reasons behind that and trust me I understand all of them. I just didn't think you two would go at it in the town square."

"Come on Lor, let's go home," Christopher said stepping towards her.

"No," Lorelai responded stepping back from him.

"What are you going to stay here with him?" Christopher asked harshly pointing over at Luke.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "I'm not focusing on one person here. You were both fighting just now. I just want to know why."

Neither guy had an answer for why they were fighting. Christopher had been the one to start walking towards Luke. He had taken the first swing only to be quickly followed by Luke. They were both engaged in the fight, both swinging trying to hurt the other one.

"Fine," Lorelai said throwing her hands up in the air. "No one is going to answer, that's just great," she said sarcastically. She felt like she was talking to a couple of kids and not grown adults, "Just go home Christopher, I'll meet you there."

Christopher sighed and started to walk towards his car. Lorelai glanced at Luke one last time with a sad look in her eyes before she made her way back to her Jeep. She stood in the street beside her Jeep and watched as Christopher drove away. She opened the door to climb in when she was stopped by a voice.

"Lorelai," Luke called softly.

Lorelai froze keeping her gaze steadily in front of her, not wanting to look at Luke.

"Lorelai, I'm sorry," he said once he noticed that he had her attention. Both knew the sorry was a loaded sorry. He wasn't just apologizing for the fight, she knew that. He was trying to apologize for everything that went wrong with them.

Lorelai turned her head to look at him, "Don't," she whispered, her voice threatening to crack as she spoke. "I can't handle that, not right now."

"Lorelai, please," Luke pleaded.

Lorelai now turned her whole body to face him, "I said don't Luke, please," she replied. "You know, I would have expected this out of him, you know just getting revenge for the fact that you punched him."

"He told you that?" Luke asked.

"Not the point," Lorelai snapped. "I don't really know why but I expected more from you. I know that you once beat up a car because you were mad but I just didn't expect this out of you. Christopher, I almost expected this, he was mad at me earlier because I wasn't thrilled to plan a wedding with him but I was with you." She cringed as she said the last part not meaning for it to slip out; she didn't want to remind herself or Luke of the almost wedding they would have shared, not again anyways. A few tears had managed to roll down her cheeks, she quickly swiped at them.

Luke sighed, "I'm sorry Lorelai. I…"

Lorelai interrupted, "God you don't give up do you? I said I couldn't take hearing that right now Luke," she said softly, silently pleading with him to just stop talking. It's not that she didn't want to talk to him; just everything he was trying to say only made it harder for her to walk away.

"I just never wanted to disappoint you," Luke replied quietly.

Lorelai nodded her head, "I know you didn't."

They stood there silently just staring at one another, both thinking about what could have been between them; both not wanting to admit that they did not want to be the first one to walk away. An indeterminate amount of time passed before Lorelai was startled when her cellphone began ringing; she plucked her phone out of her purse, saw it was Christopher calling and casually slipped it back into her purse.

"I have to go home now," Lorelai stressed.

"I know," Luke replied. He turned around and started to walk back to the diner.

Lorelai climbed into her jeep and watched Luke walk away. She blinked away the few tears that formed as she watched him cross the street and walk into the diner. She watched as he made his way through the diner and up the stairs to the apartment. Only when he was out of her sight did she drive away; away from the man that she and almost everyone else knew that she was supposed to marry and towards the man that she did marry.

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**First time just doing a one-shot; I know it's short but I just had this idea and felt like writing it. It was just a break from writing my other two stories plus I like write sort of angsty stories. I feel like I might continue on with this just for like another chapter or two but I'm not sure. For right now it is a one-shot; unless there's interest in more but if I do continue with this it will only be a few more chapters, not a long story.**

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**So not a one-shot anymore; I already have an ending for this story, well not a complete ending but lines I want to use in the last chapter so I'm working on getting there. This isn't going to be a long story like my others but rather just a few short chapters.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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Lorelai pulled in the driveway and parked her Jeep. She got out of the jeep, slammed her door and headed towards the house. Her cellphone had rang once more on the short drive home. She knew it was Christopher and she chose not to answer it since she was already headed home to him. She walked through the front door, only to be instantly confronted by Christopher.

"Where were you?" he asked.

Lorelai threw her purse onto the small table, hung her jacket on the coat rack and made her way into the kitchen before speaking, "What do you mean where was I? You knew where I was. I said I was coming home right after you and I did."

"You were gone a lot longer than that. If you followed me home like you said then you would have gotten here sooner," Christopher replied.

Lorelai sighed; maybe he was right, maybe she was gone a lot longer than she thought. She did talk to Luke and then they both just stood there staring at one another both doing absolutely nothing but she didn't think she was gone too long, "I wasn't gone that long Christopher."

"Were you with Luke?" Christopher accused harshly.

"You knew that Luke was there when you left. What are you trying to accuse me of? You think that he and I went up to his apartment after you left and snuck in a quickie before I came home?" Lorelai asked. Christopher didn't answer. "He just wanted to apologize for the fight, that's all. Nothing happened. I swear."

Lorelai trudged past him and into the living room. "Just answer me," she said turning around to face him, "Who started the fight? Why did it start?"

"Why do you want to know?" Christopher asked.

"Because it matters to me Christopher! It matters when I see the two of you going at it in the town square. It matters when I see two people in my life fighting," Lorelai stressed. "Just please be honest with me. Did you start it or did Luke start it?"

Christopher sighed, "I don't know. I started walking towards him first. I threw the first punch. I guess I technically started it."

"Sounds to me like you started it," Lorelai muttered.

"Right I forgot because Luke can't do anything wrong, I'm the screw-up," Christopher replied.

"That's not even what I meant," Lorelai said as she sat down on the couch. She buried her head in her hands and sat quietly. Luke probably knew that Christopher was going to fight him. Could she really just blame Christopher for the fight? It was probably a mutual thing; the guys hated one another, she couldn't blame them for that. She could see Chris fighting but maybe not so much Luke. Sure he got angry and irrational at times, especially when it came to Christopher or Taylor or Kirk…okay so maybe Luke was the most level-headed person and maybe he was the type to fight if it needed to happen. He did punch Christopher after all. Still the whole fight thing was just stupid to her and she just wanted to know why.

Lorelai lifted her head from her hands to find Christopher staring at her, "Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why were you two fighting?" Lorelai sighed, "Can you just walk me through what happened?"

Christopher walked across the room and sat down next to Lorelai on the couch. She turned to face him as he started talking. "I left KC's and was about to get into my car when I saw him in front of the diner getting out of his truck. I started walking towards him and then he started walking towards me. We met, I swung at him, he ducked then he swung at me. We fought; the rest is what you walked up on."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay but you didn't answer my question. Why? Why did you two fight? What in the world made you start just walking towards him, you knew you were going to fight as soon as that happened so why?"

"I don't know. I was still upset from our fight earlier. You not wanting to really even talk about us having a baby, you not wanting to plan our wedding, you wanting to do all of that with that diner guy but it does not even warrant a conversation and we are married Lor," Christopher replied.

"He's not just that diner guy," Lorelai stressed. She ignored the look Christopher was giving her, a look that made it seem like he was trying to uncover her feelings towards Luke now, "So you fought with him because you were upset with me?"

Christopher sighed and hung his head, "I don't even know why I fought with him. I just walked out of the bar and saw him there. I was upset, I was angry, so we fought. He seemed pretty adamant about fighting too, it wasn't just me."

"I don't doubt it," Lorelai mumbled quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Christopher asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Oh my god. You know that he doesn't like you. He's never liked you. Then you throw in the fact that you slept with his fiancé and that warrants a guaranteed hatred for you Christopher."

"You said your engagement was over that night you came to me."

"I thought it was over. I thought it was over as soon as he didn't answer me and I walked away, but he thought differently I guess. It wasn't over for him," she said quietly.

"I answered your question. Now I want answers," Christopher replied.

"Answers to what?"

"Why don't you want to plan this wedding?"

"We don't need a wedding, we're already married," she said throwing her hand in the air and pointing to her wedding band. "I just don't see the point. We got married, that's a done deal. Why make this a huge event when we don't really need it?"

"Because we should be able to celebrate this with everyone," Christopher said. "No one was there for our wedding, don't you want people there? Our kid wasn't even there," Lorelai didn't say anything. "I just don't get it, you planned a wedding with Luke, hell you planned a wedding with that other guy but you won't plan one with me."

"Ok, so let's see both of those weddings never happened," Lorelai said now pacing the room, "So not really a good point."

"No it is a good point," Christopher interrupted. "There's some reason that we can't even talk about planning anything, that we can't even talk about having a baby but I bet you went through all of those things with Luke, didn't you? You were probably already planning to have kids with him, right?"

Lorelai fell silent and looked around the room trying to find something else to focus on beside Christopher. She wanted kids with Luke, they had both wanted kids. She thought back to the night where she was lying in his bed and Luke was going on about something while she was trying to sleep. He was the one to bring up kids and she agreed that kids would be good one day. Luke the one who ranted on about jam hands actually talked about having kids with her. She thought to the dance marathon where Sookie and Jackson were talking about kids which prompted a conversation between her and Luke where she said that kids could be good if she found the right person. She had found the right person with Luke. Seeing him with Doula made those memories come rushing back and him standing there talking to Doula while she held her was almost like a glimpse into what might have been for them. A teeny tiny glimpse into their future, if maybe, just maybe she had not went to Christopher that night. If maybe she wasn't so crazy about eloping and could have actually sat down with him and talked about the way things were at that point. Talking about having a baby with Christopher just didn't seem right. It felt wrong. They already had a kid together, a kid that she had raised with the help of Stars Hollow, not Christopher.

Christopher took her extended silence as an answer, "I knew it. Do you even want this marriage Lorelai?" he asked standing up and making his way towards her.

Lorelai sighed and focused her attention back on Christopher, "Yes, I do. See I said I do," she joked trying to cut through the tension in the air. "That's what you say when you get married. I need this marriage Christopher." She realized she had really stressed the need part about needing this marriage.

Christopher took a step back, "You said need not want. I asked you if you wanted this and you said you needed it. Is that the only reason you married me because you needed this? You needed to be married since that diner guy wouldn't run away with you? Do you want this marriage? Not need but want this."

"I…I…" Lorelai faltered. She just needed this to work. She couldn't have another failed marriage on her hands. Well this was her only marriage but she had two failed almost marriages that she could count into this. She honestly did not know what to say anymore.

"That's what I thought. You're still in love with that diner guy. You don't want this at all," Christopher said as he walked towards the door. He grabbed his jacket off the hook.

"He's not just that diner guy," Lorelai said raising her voice as she defended Luke.

"I'm leaving," Christopher said as he opened the door and walked outside onto the porch.

Lorelai followed him onto the porch, "Please don't go," she pleaded with tears now running down her cheeks.

Christopher turned around and stood in the middle of the yard, "Tell me _honestly _that you're not still in love with him."

Lorelai took a deep breath, "I'm not still in love with him," she lied.

"That's a lie Lor and we both know it. You're not committed to this, not as much as I am. I should have seen it sooner. I was stupid to think that you were over him. I'm leaving," he said getting into his car.

Lorelai was stuck, she couldn't say anything back. Christopher was right; she was not committed to this at least, like he said, not as much as he was. The only way she could say she was fully committed to this was because she needed this marriage to work. She needed this one thing in her life to work out. She already had two failed almost marriages under her belt adding a third wrecked marriage was just too much at this point. She stood there watching as he backed out of the driveway and disappeared into the night.

Once Christopher was gone, Lorelai walked into the house and slammed the door as hard as she could. She marched up to the bedroom and threw herself down onto the bed. She kicked off her shoes as she curled up onto the bed. The silent tears she cried rolled off her cheek and stained the pillow she clutched in her hands. She cried for Christopher leaving her, she cried for realizing that she was still in love with Luke who wasn't so much in her life anymore. She cried for screwing up another relationship. At some point during the night or very early morning, the tears stopped and she fell into a restless sleep.

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**I have the other chapters planned out, I just want to know if you are enjoying this. Events from season 7 are going to take place, especially some events that happen right after this episode, they are just going to happen in their own way based on what has happened so far. So it's not going to be exactly like the show.**

**Please leave a review!**

**Review:  
Nancy: So I continued it, hope you still continue to enjoy the story. Thanks for reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**So this chapter is where I take more of a creative spin with how the events play out. The same events happen just in a different order. Plus I took creative liberties with some conversations.**

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Lorelai sat at her kitchen table staring at her cell phone. Her coffee was steadily getting cold as she stared at the phone willing it to just ring. She had called Christopher and left messages for him to call her. She knew that her marriage was most likely over since he left last night but she still needed to talk to him. She just needed to explain to him exactly what was going on in her head. She groaned as she rested her head on the table; he was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be here when Rory came home from London tomorrow, he was supposed to be here to celebrate Christmas as a family. Now she had to explain to Rory that her dad wasn't going to be there for Christmas. Sure Rory was older now and would understand better than she did when she was little when he didn't show but it still hurt her that they could never actually have a Christmas together. She had put Christmas off to celebrate with everyone as a happy family but now that wasn't going to happen.

Lorelai checked the time on her cellphone and noticed that she needed to head to the Inn. She headed upstairs and into the bathroom to get dressed. As she applied her make-up, she tried to disguise the redness and puffiness around her eyes from crying two nights in a row. Once she did the best she could do, she changed into the dress she picked out for the day. She took one last look in the mirror and noticed that her eyes still look puffy and red, if anyone asked she would just blame it on being tired or allergies.

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Lorelai was sitting in the kitchen at the Inn talking to Sookie and sipping on her cup of coffee. Sookie had commented on her appearance and Lorelai ended up telling her what happened last night. She needed someone to talk to about everything. She informed her of the fight that she witnessed between Luke and Christopher, the conversation she had with Luke, and the conversation/fight she had with Christopher once she got home. She didn't tell her all the details, like the fact that she still loved Luke, but she told her everything else.

"So he just left?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yep. He just got into his car and drove away. I don't know where he went, if he's okay, or anything. I've been calling him since then but he hasn't called me back."

"Did he say anything about why he was leaving before we left?" Sookie asked.

"We argued about me not wanting to plan a wedding and me not wanting to have a baby with him. He was angry that I wanted that with Luke but not him. He's convinced that I'm not over Luke," Lorelai replied.

Sookie sighed and took a step closer to Lorelai, "Are you over Luke sweetie?" she asked casting Lorelai a sympathetic look.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know," she said before looking up at Sookie. "Okay so maybe I'm not over him. We were engaged, at one point we almost had the entire wedding planned out, you don't just get over that in a few months. He went from being Luke my fiancé, my best friend, to just Luke who lives in Stars Hollow. We had this unconventional relationship for years. I can't just get over him."

Sookie placed her hand on Lorelai's shoulder, "You're right, you don't just get over that in a few months. No one is blaming you for feeling this way. You and Luke were always close, that just doesn't go away."

Lorelai sighed, "Maybe you're right. Now I have to call Rory and explain everything to her. We were all supposed to have Christmas together but now it will be just me and Rory, I guess."

"When does Rory come home?" Sookie asked.

"Tomorrow, I still have time to call her," Lorelai said. They both turned when they heard someone open the kitchen door.

"Lorelai, there's someone here to see you," one of the maids said poking her head in the kitchen. Lorelai nodded in response.

"Thanks for listening Sookie," Lorelai said standing up from the stool and walking across the kitchen.

"Hey," Sookie called causing Lorelai to turn around, "Everything's going to be okay."

Lorelai smiled, "Thanks Sookie."

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Lorelai walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the front lobby of the Inn. On the way she wondered who could be there to see her. She wasn't expecting anyone; although with her luck it would be her mother there trying to make more wedding party plans. She turned the corner to find Luke standing at the front desk awkwardly while Michel stared at him. She was surprised to see him here. It seemed that she was running into him a lot more lately.

"Hey," she said as Luke turned towards her.

"Ahh, here she is. It's been a delight chatting with you," Michel said.

"I'm sorry to just barge in like this," Luke said.

"That's okay," Lorelai replied.

"Can we talk somewhere?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Um…sure," she said leading him into the library of the Dragonfly. She sat down on the couch as Luke took a seat next to her after a few minutes of silence; she speaks up, "What did you need to talk about?"

"I probably shouldn't even be asking you this after what happened between me and Christopher. It's okay if you say no because I would completely understand. I just needed someone to ask and you're the one person that came to my mind," Luke said.

Lorelai interrupted, "What did you need to ask Luke?"

"Anna's moving to New Mexico. Her mom is sick and needs someone out there to take care of her, so that's what Anna is doing. April is going with her of course. I just want to be able to still see April on weekends on some holidays, you know?" Luke asked looking up at Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded, "I know."

"So I'm going to court to try and get partial custody of April," Luke said.

"That's good Luke."

"Yeah, I have to do the whole suit and tie thing though which is stupid."

"Well just think about April, you're doing this for her. That's great."

"The thing is that I need a character reference. I asked Liz to write one but it was full of childhood anecdotes that my lawyer said wouldn't really hold up in a court of law. Plus no one would understand any of it since it's from our childhood. So I was wondering if you would write one," Luke said.

Lorelai interrupted, "Yes."

Luke continued on as if he did not hear her, "I mean you can say no. I would understand. I made an ass of myself the other night fighting with Christopher, if you want to say no then I understand. I probably should not have even asked you after what happened."

"Yes," Lorelai repeated.

"Maybe it was wrong to ask," Luke continued.

"Luke," Lorelai said finally getting his attention. "Yes, I'll write one."

"You will?" Luke asked. Lorelai nodded while smiling slightly. "Okay, I need it soon. So if you could write one and send it to my lawyer then that would be great," he said pulling a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, "Here's the address, you can just send it directly there."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay," she said grabbing the small scrap of paper from him.

"Mom? Luke?" Rory asked as she entered the room. She glanced between her mother and Luke as she made her way over to the couch.

Lorelai turned around, "Hey kid. What are you doing here?"

"I should probably go, thank you Lorelai," Luke said. He felt a little weird that Rory walked up even though nothing was going on.

"You're welcome," Lorelai replied. Luke reached out and shook her hand before walking out of the room. Lorelai looked down at her hand that Luke shook before leaving. _That was definitely weird_ she thought. She looked back to find Rory still watching her, "I thought you were not getting here until tomorrow."

"I got an earlier flight," Rory said. "I wanted to surprise you. I went by the house first and no one was home."

"Well that's great, I'm happy you're here," Lorelai said wrapping Rory in a tight hug. She took a step back and smiled at Rory. "I'm really happy you're home hun."

"I'm happy to be home," Rory smiled. "What was Luke doing here?"

"Let's go to my office to talk," Lorelai said softly. "There are a few things that I need to tell you."

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**So next chapter, Lorelai and Rory talk; Lorelai tells Rory about Christopher leaving and about Luke's character reference. They discuss how they are now going to spend Christmas since Christopher is gone.**

**Please leave a review! They are always appreciated. **

**Thanks so much for the reviews left on the last chapter. They do help to keep me inspired to put out chapters for this story. You guys are really great. Thank you for reading!**

**Reviews:  
Sarai: Thank you!**

**Chloe: Definitely continuing. **

**BFD: Here's more, thank you!**

**Gilmoreintraining: Like you said she did bring it upon herself. I'm working on getting her to a happier place, so not too sad for much longer. Thank you!**

**Nancy: I think you're right with what you said about Christopher. I have some plans for Lorelai and Luke that will be in the future chapters. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Guest: Thank you! Here's more.**

**Kcole6206: Next chapter for you! Thanks for reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter!**

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Lorelai guided Rory into her office. She sat down on the couch in her office and patted the spot next to her for Rory to sit down. Rory sat down and looked at her mother. It was then that she noticed how puffy and red Lorelai's eyes were.

"Mom, what's going on?" Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed, "Well last night your father left."

"Left as in?" Rory asked.

"Left as in left for good; he's gone. He said he was leaving. He said I wasn't committed to this marriage so he just left," Lorelai explained.

"That doesn't make any sense, you both seemed happy," Rory said trying to make sense of the whole situation.

"We have been fighting recently and to him that proved that I wasn't ready or committed to this marriage. We were fighting about wedding party planning because your grandma wanted us to do vows and have an actual ceremony," Lorelai said.

"I know that you didn't want to plan a party but I thought that was because grandma was helping you," Rory said.

"That was partly it but I just didn't see the point in having a party or ceremony like she wanted when we were already married. They said everyone should be able to celebrate our marriage but I just didn't want to plan anything. It's not that I didn't want you there to celebrate with us; it was just a spur of the moment thing while we were in Paris. I just didn't feel like having a party," Lorelai said.

"I know," Rory replied. "You planned a whole wedding with Luke though and with Max."

Lorelai laughed, "Same exact thing your father said, although Luke was that diner guy. I know that I planned an entire wedding with them. I was planning to marry them. I was planning to have a whole big ceremony but I'm already married to your father. You elope; you don't have a big ceremony. You just get married."

"Is that the only thing you guys that you fought about?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "No. Your dad also wanted to have a baby but I told him that I wasn't really ready for that. We just got married, I wasn't even thinking about a baby."

"Dad suggested that?" Rory asked in disbelief. Lorelai nodded. "Why was he talking about that?"

"Well the other day we went to Doose's and Taylor's niece was working the register. You know how slow she is so your father told me he would check out while I waited outside. I walked outside and just happened to run into Luke who was with Doula."

"Doula?" Rory questioned.

"Oh Luke's niece, Liz had her baby," Lorelai said. Rory nodded. "So I start talking to him. I ask to hold the baby, he says sure. Your dad walked out while I was holding Doula. Both Luke and I were just standing there talking to the baby, I think your father took it for more than it meant. When we left, he told me that I looked good with a baby or something like that."

"Well you do have to admit it would have to be weird for your husband to see you holding a baby and talking to your ex-fiancé," Rory replied.

Lorelai sighed, "I know kid. When we fought about it, your dad threw it back in my face that I didn't want kids with him but I probably talked about kids with Luke before and I couldn't say anything. When Luke and I were together, we did talk about kids, you know at one point in our future. That doesn't matter though; Luke and I aren't together anymore."

"Speaking of Luke, why was he here?" Rory asked. "I didn't know you two were talking, have you been talking, is that why Dad left?"

"No, we haven't really been talking unless I run into him. I can't just avoid him at that point though. He was here because he needed a character reference for a custody case. He's going to try and get partial custody of April, he needed someone to write a character reference and he said Liz's was full of weird childhood anecdotes, so he needed someone else to write one. He asked me and I said yes, that's all," Lorelai said.

"That must be a little weird for you. I mean he never let you get to know her and now you're helping him so that he can spend time with her," Rory said. "Plus it might make you realize that you still have feelings for Luke."

"I have to do this for him. He's done so much for me and for you over the years. I could not say no," Lorelai replied. "Plus your dad already accused me of still having feelings for Luke and I tried to tell him I didn't but he said I was lying."

"Were you lying?" Rory asked. Lorelai waited a few minutes before nodding. "I felt like you did still have feeling for him. So you and dad are getting a divorce?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "That's what it looks like. I haven't spoken to him since last night though. I'm sorry I ruined Christmas. I know you wanted to spend it with your dad."

"It's okay," Rory replied. "We can still have Christmas together."

"That's all I want," Lorelai replied. "We can start decorating when I get home tonight. I have some stuff to finish up here but tonight and tomorrow we can decorate."

Rory smiled, "Sounds good to me. I'm sorry about you and dad."

"It's fine sweetie. I'm upset about all of this but some things just don't really work out. I should know that by now. I don't think your dad and I could have really ever had a marriage; not after Luke anyways. I wish it would have worked out though."

"Me too," Rory replied quietly. "Maybe you're just not meant to be with Dad."

"Yeah, maybe."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Rory started thinking about her parent's marriage and how fast they got married in a foreign country. Now she wasn't sure of the laws for eloping but it did seem a little strange to her that they could just get married so fast in another country. Sure, they could go to Vegas in get married in one night but they were residents of the US but not of France. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed that they got married so quickly. Not that she didn't want her parents to be married, because everyone wants their parents together, but maybe their marriage was never really a thing; maybe it was never legal. That would make it so they really didn't have to get a divorce; maybe it some way it would cheer Lorelai up. She knew her mother still loved Luke, there was no denying that. She found it weird when her parents got married but she figured she would just be happy for them since they seemed happy but now with the talk they just had, it made it clear that the marriage would have never worked out anyways. Rory decided then that when she got home, she was going to do research on elopement laws just to see if her parents' marriage was actual legal.

"Hey Mom, I think I'm going to head home and unpack some; maybe go through some of the Christmas boxes just so everything is ready for us to decorate," Rory said.

"Okay sweets, I shouldn't be here too much longer. I'll be home soon," Lorelai replied.

"You know, I can try and call dad to get him to call you," Rory said. "That way you two can talk."

"I can handle it sweetie, he has to call me back at some point," Lorelai replied.

Rory smiled, "Just trying to help. I'll see you at home," she said before walking out of her mother's office. She headed home to do a little research.

Lorelai pulled out a pad of paper from her desk and a pen. She sighed as she began to think about what she could write for Luke's character reference. She scribbled a few sentences down only to quickly cross them out knowing that they sounded stupid. She left her office and headed to the kitchen for coffee where she had a conversation with Sookie about the character reference. After getting her coffee and talking to Sookie, she went back to her office to try and write the character reference once again.

* * *

**So I always thought that Lorelai and Christopher got married too fast. Surely there has to be some laws that would prevent them from just eloping or prevent the marriage from being legal. I looked into it a little bit and by what I read, it does seem almost impossible for them to just get married on a whim in Paris. So that's where I'm going with this, sort of.**

_Also it may seem like Rory is totally cool with her parents not being together but in my mind, she knows that her parents would never truly work out in the long run. She knows it was odd how they just got married so fast and Lorelai seemed to be completely over Luke. She also knows that her mom does truly love Luke. It may seem out of character for Rory, but this is my story. So my Rory, understands that her parents are her parents but their marriage wouldn't really work out and that her mom belongs with Luke._

**As always, reviews are welcomed and greatly appreciated; so you know if you wanted to leave one, I couldn't stop you. I would totally encourage it. Next chapter will have Rory researching/telling her mother about the research she has found and maybe a talk with Christopher.**

_I know I'm posting updates to this story faster than I normally update my other stories, but this story is shorter and has a lot shorter chapters; so it makes it easier to update. I also have another story idea in my mind right now but I don't think I'm going to write it because I do need to focus on the stories I already have written._


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the couch surveying their now decorated living room. They were both trying to figure out what was missing from the house.

"Something looks odd in here," Lorelai said.

"I think it's because we don't have the trees in here yet," Rory replied.

Lorelai gasped, "Yes that's what it is. We can go get a tree tomorrow. You had to come home early and surprise me."

"Yeah, I'm such a bad daughter," Rory said sarcastically. "Have you heard from Dad at all?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I tried to call him a few more times and I left messages but he still hasn't called me back. Between that and trying to write Luke's reference letter, I was busy at the Inn all afternoon." Just then the phone rang, "That may be him¸" she said.

"I'll go to my room, give you some privacy," Rory replied.

"Okay sweets," Lorelai said as Rory walked off. She walked over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?" Lorelai said.

"Hey Lor," Christopher replied.

"Christopher," Lorelai sighed, "I have been calling you all day."

"I know, I just needed time to think," Christopher said.

"Well you could have at least let me know that you were okay, I was worried," Lorelai replied. "We need to talk, you just left," she said as she sat back down on the couch. She pulled her legs up onto the couch and wrapped her arm around them.

"You told me you were still in love with your ex-fiancé."

"I never said that," Lorelai replied. It was true; she had never used those exact words. In fact she told him that she wasn't in love with Luke, but he saw right through her lie.

"You didn't use those exact words but you never denied it," Christopher accused.

Lorelai couldn't argue with that accusation. "Are you going to come home anytime soon?"

"I was going to drop by and see Rory when she gets in, I did tell her that I would see her at Christmas."

"She's already here; she got an earlier light as a surprise."

"Well I can come by tomorrow to see her. I can also pick up some of my things at that time," Christopher replied.

"You're moving out?" Lorelai asked quietly. She really should have seen this coming after he just left. She knew their marriage was doomed but it still hurt that he was soon to be moving everything out.

"I started looking for a new place for me and Gigi today," Christopher answered.

"So that's it?" she asked harshly. "We don't get to talk about this? No discussion at all? You're just moving out? Everything's over?" Lorelai questioned.

She heard Christopher sigh before speaking, "What's there to discuss? You don't want this marriage Lorelai. You're in love with someone else."

Lorelai fell silent on the phone. Everything he was saying or accusing her of was true. Getting married in Paris was not something they talked about at least not for long. Christopher was just being nice, they were in Paris, the city of love, and everything was romantic so an elopement just fell into place. At that moment she wanted to marry Christopher but coming back home to Stars Hollow and actually having him there as her husband seemed just plain odd. He wasn't welcomed by the people in Stars Hollow, not really anyways, which wasn't a total surprise. Being married to Christopher in Stars Hollow was different than being married to him in Paris. She did love him, just not in the same way she loved Luke. Christopher was always an option and it seemed like a perfect idea to be with him, he was the father of her kid after all. It was just different now that she had actually been with Luke. She knew it wasn't fair to her or to Christopher to try and keep this marriage alive.

Lorelai wiped at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks, "You're right," she admitted. "It's not that I don't love because I do love you. I love you for giving me Rory."

Christopher interrupted, "But you're not in love with me."

"I want to be, I just can't," she said not bothering to wipe any more tears away. "So I guess this means we should talk to someone about a divorce."

"I'll talk to my lawyer this week," Christopher replied.

Lorelai sighed, "I'll talk to someone to, ask my parents for help."

"Okay," Christopher replied. "I have to go, bye Lor."

Lorelai set the phone down on the coffee table when she realized that he had hung up. She hugged her legs closer to her body as she tried to stop the tears.

Meanwhile, Rory was in her room going over the research she gathered on French elopement laws. When she got back from the Inn earlier, she immediately headed for her laptop and began to search the internet for any information on eloping in France. She spent all afternoon reading and rereading everything she found and to her it seemed that her parents' marriage was not even legal. Now she wasn't one-hundred percent sure but from the research she found she was pretty certain that her parents weren't technically even married. She had to tell her mother soon what she had found out.

Rory walked out of her room and found Lorelai silently crying on the couch, "Oh Mom," she said wrapping her arms around her.

Lorelai wiped at her tear-stained cheeks, "Your dad and I are getting a divorce."

"Actually," Rory said awkwardly, "That's something I wanted to talk to you about; a divorce might not be needed."

"Rory this marriage is doomed. It is not fair to your dad or me if we try to stop the inevitable. We need a divorce," Lorelai replied.

"No that's now that I meant," Rory said. "Today I did some research on French elopements."

"What? Why?"

"Earlier at the Inn I was thinking how weird it seemed that you two got married so quickly. I know over here you can just go to any chapel in Vegas and get married anytime you want," Rory said. "I just thought it was strange that you managed to do that in a foreign country."

"Well elopements are generally fast Rory. They are not something you think too much about," Lorelai replied.

"I get that but I still had this gut feeling about the whole elopement. I did some research on and to me it doesn't seem like you could just elope in a foreign country when you were only there for a few days."

"What are you trying to say Rory?"

"I'm trying to say that I don't think you and dad are married, not legally anyways. From what I found online, it seems that your marriage is not legal in France or in the States."

Lorelai shook her head, "I don't understand. We went through the whole ceremony though, we exchanged rings," she said holding up her hand to show Rory her wedding ring.

"I know you did," Rory said. "I read where people eloped in France like you and dad did but once they got back to their own country, they had another civil ceremony that made the marriage legal. You and dad never did that. At least, not yet."

"Maybe that's why he was so intent on having a wedding party or ceremony or whatever they wanted to call it," Lorelai said now pacing the room.

"Maybe," Rory replied, "or maybe Dad didn't really know."

"Yeah maybe," Lorelai said. "So wait, we're not married, like at all?"

"I don't think so but that's just me. You may be actually married. I think a lawyer or someone like that might be able to help you out with this," Rory replied as she watched Lorelai pace around the room. "Are you okay?"

"I just need to process this. I mean my whole marriage might not have even happened. This is just a bombshell really," Lorelai said. "I think I need to do some research on this."

"Do you want to read what I found?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "I'll just use my laptop. I'm going upstairs, goodnight."

Lorelai heard Rory say goodnight back as she walked up the stairs. Right now her mind was just a big jumble of questions. Was she really married? Were they going to need a divorce? Can you really not just elope in France? Did Christopher know there was a possibility of their marriage not being legal? Did Emily also know about that possibility? Who could she talk to about this and find out the truth? Would Google have all the answers? How was she supposed to write a reference letter with everything else going on? What was she going to say in her reference letter?

Lorelai made it into her bedroom and grabbed her laptop. She sat on the bed as she opened the laptop. She headed for her favorite search engine and began researching elopement laws in France. She clicked on link after link trying to find out whether or not her marriage was legal. She read and reread several articles. At one point during her online researching, she grabbed a pad and piece of paper and began jotting down notes on the information that she was finding. When she saw that a few hours had passed, she decided to call it quits for tonight. She would find someone to talk to tomorrow that could maybe help her out with this. She placed her laptop on her nightstand and rolled over to her side. Her mind was filled with so many thoughts and questions that sleep was definitely not going to be her friend tonight. All throughout the night her mind drifted back and forth between her maybe-not-fully-legal marriage and Luke's character reference that she still had to write.

* * *

**Now the question is: does Christopher know about the laws surrounding the elopement? You'll find out in the next chapter. I have most of the chapters already planned out.**

**Reviews:  
Gilmoreintraining: I always wondered if Luke was thinking about the fight when he asked her. I didn't want to make Rory mad at her, it just complicated things more. Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

**Nancy: Rory does have a sensible head on her shoulders. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**Thanks for continuing to read/review.**

* * *

"Did we bring all the trees in?" Lorelai asked looking at Rory. They were just getting back from shopping for Christmas trees and had managed to pick up 7 to spread all throughout the house.

"This is the last one," Rory said as she walked inside holding a small tree. "This is the one we agreed would go in the kitchen," she said walking towards the kitchen.

"Well since they are all inside now, we should start decorating," Lorelai said grabbing a box of decorations for the tree. Rory grabbed a few decorations and started to hang them on the tree.

Lorelai and Rory decided to go early in the morning to get trees because Lorelai had a meeting set up with a lawyer this afternoon to talk about her elopement. She researched late into the night only to get more and more confused with the research she found. She decided that it would be best to talk to someone about this so she called right when she woke up this morning and found a lawyer that might just be able to help her work through this confusion. If this lawyer said her marriage was legal then she could still use him for the divorce proceedings.

Rory looked out the window when she heard a car pull up. She saw her father climbing out of his car and walking towards the house. "Dad's here," she said looking at Lorelai.

"I should get going anyways, my meeting is in an hour," Lorelai replied.

Rory walked to the front door when she heard Christopher knocking, "Hey Dad," she said answering the door.

Christopher walked through the front door and into the living room. "Hey Lor," he said when he saw Lorelai standing there.

"Hi Christopher, I was just on my way out but you stay, spend time with your daughter," Lorelai replied.

"You don't have to go," Christopher replied. "We can spend time together as a family."

"Maybe when I get back but I have a meeting to go too," Lorelai said as she was gathering her things. "Have fun," she said as she walked out of the door. She was just trying to get out of that house as quickly as possible. Like Rory said, it didn't seem like her marriage was even legal but she wanted it confirmed before she confronted Christopher about it.

* * *

Lorelai was sitting in a waiting room at the lawyer's office reading a magazine she brought with her as she waited for her meeting to begin. The secretary had assured her that she would not be waiting long.

"Ms. Gilmore?" The secretary asked. Lorelai looked up. "You can go in now."

Lorelai smiled and stuffed her magazine back in her purse before standing up. "Thank you," she replied as she walked past the secretary and into the office.

"Hi I'm Lorelai Gilmore," Lorelai said as she entered the office.

"I'm Adam Thomas. Have a seat," he said gesturing for Lorelai to sit down. Lorelai sat down in the chair across from the desk, "So Ms. Gilmore, what was it you needed to talk about today?"

"This is going to sound completely strange but I need to find out if my marriage is legal," Lorelai said. "I've been doing some research and my daughter did some research as well and my final conclusion is that my marriage is not legal at all."

"Can you explain to me exactly how this marriage happened?" Adam asked.

"Well…" Lorelai said as she launched into a very detailed description of what happened in Paris with their elopement. After explaining how they just eloped, she explained the research that she had found and that Rory found that led them both to believe that her marriage was not legal.

"How long were you in Paris before you decided to elope?" he asked.

"We were just there for a few days, not long at all," Lorelai replied.

"I've actually had people before in earlier years ask me about elopements such as yours because they wanted to get married in a foreign country and I was able to help them to legal perform a ceremony," Adam said. "French law dictates that you must reside in the country for forty days prior to your ceremony."

"So since I did not reside in the country forty days before getting married, I'm not legally married?" Lorelai asked.

"You're not legally married in the States or even in France," Adam replied. "All you would need to do now is follow up with a small ceremony here to make your marriage legal. Plenty of couples have done this. They get eloped in Paris on a whim and then simply follow up with a wedding ceremony back here to make their marriage legal."

Lorelai sighed, "So I'm not married?" she asked again just to make sure.

"No, you're not married," Adam said.

"So not divorce is necessary? All I have to do is take of this ring and poof I'm not considered married anymore?" Lorelai asked.

"No need for a divorce; you're not married," Adam replied.

"Wow, um okay this is surprising to say the least," Lorelai replied. "I should have known that you just cannot just elope in a foreign country."

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

Lorelai smiled, "Oh you have nothing to be sorry for. That's all I really wanted to ask today. Thank you for helping me," she said before turning around and exiting the office.

On the way home, Lorelai decided to stop by a small coffee shop in Hartford. As she sat there sipping on her coffee, she thought about her marriage well not technically a marriage. She wondered if Christopher knew about the legality of their so-called marriage. She was definitely going to have a discussion with him once she got home. She sat at the coffee shop a little while longer just to give Rory and Christopher more time alone together.

* * *

Lorelai pulled up in front of her house and stepped out of her Jeep. She walked up to the house and took a deep breath before going inside. The more she thought about it on the way home, the madder she became about the whole situation. If they had never went to Paris together, none of this would have happened; at least she didn't think it would have happened. She would have not had to hurt Luke by getting married to Christopher. Lorelai walked into the house to find Rory and Christopher in the kitchen talking.

"Hey sweets can I talk to your dad alone?" Lorelai asked.

"Um sure, I'll go see Lane, see how she's doing," Rory replied. She gave her father a hug before leaving the house.

Once Rory was gone, Lorelai turned to Christopher, "Did you know?" she asked.

"Know what?" Christopher asked.

"Did you know that our elopement in Paris wasn't legal?" Lorelai asked. Christopher remained silent. "I just recently found out myself that it was not legal."

"What are you talking about Lor?" Christopher asked.

"I have been doing some research, the reason doesn't matter, but as it turns out our marriage is not legal. I just came back from speaking to a lawyer and he confirmed that our marriage is not legal. According to French law, you have to be a resident forty days in France before your ceremony for it to even be considered legal in France. Our marriage is not legal anywhere!" she shouted. "I was told that for it to be legal we would have to perform a ceremony here, which you were all set for doing so my question is did you know?"

Christopher sighed, "I didn't know while we were in Paris. I only found out when we came back from the states. I was talking to someone at work about it and he had a friend who went through the same thing. He found out his marriage wasn't legal and they performed a ceremony when they got home to make it legal."

Lorelai took a step back from Christopher, "So you knew this entire time we were going through the planning and you were not going to tell me?" she asked. "You weren't going to tell your wife that she was not even your wife?"

"Look I figured that we had agreed to get married and this was just a technicality. We could have a ceremony in the States to confirm everything and then we would truly be married," Christopher replied.

"A technicality?" Lorelai yelled. "That's what you're calling this? Absolutely nothing about this was legal but it was just a small technicality to you?"

"Calm down Lor," Christopher said stepping forward towards Lorelai.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you kept this from me," Lorelai replied. "This is something you should have discussed with your so-called wife. I should have known that our marriage wasn't legal."

"What so you could have never had this happen? You could just run back to Luke?" Christopher asked.

"God Christopher, this is not about Luke. This is about you keeping this from me. This is about you lying to me, letting me go on thinking that we were married when we weren't. This is about you trying to trick me into marrying you," she accused.

"Me trying to trick you?" Christopher asked harshly. "You agreed to marry me in Paris. I wasn't trying to trick you; you already thought we were married."

"Exactly I thought we were married when we really were not married at all. You should have told me as soon as you found out that we were not legally married. I should have known about it just like you did and then we could have both figured out where to go from there, instead of forcing me to do a ceremony that I didn't want to do just to make it legal," Lorelai replied.

"We could have figured out what to do?" Christopher asked. "Are you trying to say that you would have rethought this marriage if you found out it wasn't legal?"

Lorelai sighed, "We could have at least talked about it; maybe we could have went from there or maybe we could have never been married at all or at least we could have taken a little more time to think about it. We made an impulsive decision."

"That's what you do when you elope," Christopher argued.

"Trust me I know that," Lorelai replied. "I think we were just caught up in all of it, I mean they do call it the city of love."

"I wasn't caught up, I wanted to marry you," Christopher said.

"I can't believe you tried to trick me," Lorelai replied. "For someone who says the love me, you sure act like you don't sometimes. You lied to me about our marriage, you probably told my mother about this not being legal and you both tried to right the wrong there, and you won't even let me get the cereal I want when shopping," she ranted. "One sugary cereal is not enough."

"This is about cereal?" Christopher asked confused.

"No, this is about you knowing me but not really knowing me. You may have known me since we were kids but you don't know who I am now," Lorelai replied.

"But Luke does?" Christopher asked. "He would let you get the sugary cereal right?"

Lorelai threw her hands up in the air, "This is not about Luke, can't we have one conversation about this, about us, without your bringing him up?" she asked.

Christopher stood there in front of her not saying anything.

Lorelai sighed, "Well no need for a divorce considering we were never married." She looked down at the ring on her hand. She slid off the ring and held it up to Christopher, "This is yours," she said handing over the ring. "There it's like we were never married. I know bad joke."

"You can finish getting your stuff whenever I guess," Lorelai said to fill the silence.

Christopher slid the ring into his pocket, "I got some stuff today but I'll be by to get the rest of the stuff tomorrow."

Lorelai nodded, "You still have your key, you can use that since Rory and I might go shopping."

"I should probably go," Christopher said.

"Yeah, you probably should," Lorelai replied as she walked out of the kitchen and upstairs. She sat on her bed and listened for the sound of the door closing indicating that Christopher. When she heard the door closed, she walked over to the window and watched his car back out the driveway. A few minutes she heard the door open again.

"Mom?" Rory called out as she walked in the house.

"Upstairs," Lorelai replied.

Rory walked into the bedroom, "Are you okay?"

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine; really I am. You were right, our marriage wasn't legal. Your dad knew about it after it happened too. He was just going to keep it from me."

"That's crazy," Rory replied. "So he's gone now?"

"Yeah he's gone. I gave him the ring back so it's like it never really happened. He is coming by to get the rest of his stuff tomorrow so you and I are going shopping," Lorelai said.

"Shopping sounds good," Rory replied. "Are you really okay?"

"I'm still upset but I'm okay," Lorelai said. "I'll be fine."

Rory smiled, "Great. I'm glad you're okay."

Lorelai smiled, "Me too kid."

* * *

**Next chapter should have a little of the shopping day, a little Emily, and some Luke, so a little bit of everything. **

**Please leave a review! :)**

**Reviews:  
Sarai: You were right! Haha, thanks for reviewing.**

**Nancy: I have Emily in the next chapter to you will find out if she knew for sure or not. I remember your motto! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Cocy: Your English is fine. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, here's the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing.**

**BFD: I have plans for Luke and Lorelai that I think are realistic for this story. Thank you for reviewing.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

"I was thinking that we could take separate cars when we go shopping today," Lorelai said.

Rory looked over at her mother since they were just about to leave the house, "Why would we do that?" she asked. "We're going shopping together and we're leaving from the same place. It doesn't make sense to go in separate cars."

Lorelai sighed, "I need to go to talk to your grandmother about something. I just need to talk to her alone and then we can go shopping. I figure separate cars, you can start shopping for your dad or anyone else while I'm talking to Emily. I can just meet you at the mall afterwards."

"What do you need to talk to grandma about?" Rory asked.

"Just tell her that Christopher and I are over, that there will be no wedding, that are marriage was never legal and I need to ask her something that I would prefer to do face to face," Lorelai replied. "I won't take long I swear."

"Okay, I guess I will just meet you there," Rory said grabbing her own set of keys.

* * *

Lorelai was currently standing in front of the Gilmore Mansion. True she had to tell her parents that the marriage was over and that the marriage was never even legal but she also needed to find out if Emily knew about the marriage not being legal. She was the one besides Christopher that was pushing for a ceremony with vows and everything else so she had to find out exactly how much Emily knew about her marriage. If she was keeping things from her like Christopher did. Lorelai rang the doorbell and waited for a maid to answer. A maid answered and led Lorelai through the house and into the living room where Emily was sitting.

"Lorelai, what are you doing here?" Emily asked. "We didn't have any plans to meet up today."

"No we didn't but there's something I need to tell you," Lorelai replied. "Christopher and I aren't together anymore. There will be no wedding, no more wedding plans, nothing like that. We're done."

"What happened? What did you do?" Emily asked.

"Why did you automatically assume it's something I did?" Lorelai asked. "It just didn't work out. Christopher and I don't work, at least not for long. I can't be with him."

"Why not? You two seemed great together," Emily replied.

Lorelai sighed, "Well we're not, obviously. Actually that doesn't even matter right now. There's one thing, it seems that you cannot just get eloped in Paris on a whim. There are laws against it. So I want to know, did you know that my marriage wasn't legal?"

"What? How could I have possibly known that?" Emily asked.

"I just want the truth. Christopher knew once we got back from Paris that our marriage wasn't legal. He knew that in order to make it legal we would have to have a ceremony here at home," Lorelai replied. "Which is exactly what he wanted; he wanted a ceremony here to make the marriage legal without me knowing about it. You were pushing for a ceremony too which leads me to believe that you knew as well."

"I didn't know Lorelai," Emily said truthfully. She had never known the marriage wasn't legal. She never even questioned the legality of it. She was just happy that Lorelai had married Christopher and seemed to be happy with this new development in her life. Hearing Lorelai say the marriage wasn't legal confused her but also made sense. It did seem a little strange that they got married so fast in a foreign country.

Lorelai scoffed, "Yeah right. You have always wanted me to marry Christopher. You have always wanted me to be with him. Hell you even used him to break me and Luke once before because he was right for me as you say."

"I didn't know Lorelai," Emily repeated. "My one and only daughter just runs off and gets married without anyone knowing about. No one was there Lorelai. I just wanted the chance to see my daughter get married but you didn't let me have that chance."

"Whatever," Lorelai replied. "I should just go," she turned and started walking towards the door.

"You're never going to believe me are you?" Emily asked. "I didn't know it wasn't legal. I thought a ceremony would be great so I could see you get married. That's what I wanted. I just wanted to give you the wedding that every mother wants to give her daughter."

"Okay," Lorelai replied quietly before walking out the front door. She sat in her jeep and thought about what her mother just told her. Something in her mother's voice made her want to believe her but she knew Emily had schemed with Christopher before so it was hard to trust that she really didn't know about her marriage.

* * *

Lorelai headed into the mall and called Rory to see what store she was currently in. After getting Rory's location, she set off in search of the store. Lorelai spotted Rory across the science store talking to none other than Luke and April. She took a deep breath before making her way towards them.

"Hi," she said as she approached.

"Oh hey Lorelai," April said.

"Hey," Luke replied. "How's it going?" he asked looking at Lorelai.

"I'm almost done," Lorelai replied.

"Done?" Luke asked with a confused look on his face.

Lorelai blushed, she had embarrassed herself, "You're not talking about the letter. You're just asking in general."

"I meant, how's it going?" Luke repeated.

"Good, I'm good," Lorelai replied.

"I was just telling them how we were just now celebrating Christmas since I was away in London with Logan," Rory chimed in.

"Oh so April what did you get?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, my dad got me the greatest present ever - a rock-polishing kit - but I had already gotten it from my grandma, who's very into Christmas. So we exchanged it for this microscope, which is also the greatest present," April replied.

"Good," Lorelai said.

"Wow. That's great," Rory said.

April looked up at Luke, "My dad's always been a great gift giver."

"I guess I don't know if I was always considered good at picking out presents, right, Rory?" Luke said with a slight smile.

Lorelai smiled as Luke, Rory, and April went on in a conversation that revolved around towels, monograms, and unicorns. She kept her focus on Luke as she thought about just how much he had been there over the years. Once she had met him, he was always there for Rory. Like Rory said, he never missed a birthday or holiday unlike Rory's own father. He was there for a caterpillar's funeral, he was there when Rory had chicken pox, he was there threatening to drag Rory to class when she dropped out of Yale; he was the one that was always there for Rory and for her, even when they broke up the first time he was willing to come to her house because she called and needed her best friend. She knew that he would always be there for April; he just had to be given the chance to be there for April. He didn't deserve to have April taken away from him just as he was getting to know her.

"Mom?" Rory called breaking Lorelai out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?" Lorelai answered tearing her gaze away from Luke and turning towards Rory.

"I was just saying we should go, we still have a lot of shopping to do," Rory replied. "You just seemed a little out of it there."

"Oh yeah you know just lost in Lorelai-land, or my mind, whatever you want to call it. But yeah we should go," Lorelai said.

Luke smiled, "Yeah we need to go too, have to get April home."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay, bye guys, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Rory said as she and Lorelai walked off from April and Luke.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai sat at her typewriting typing out the character reference she promised to write for Luke. Seeing him this afternoon and hearing him and Rory talk about all the presents he bought for her inspired her to write the reference. After earlier, she knew exactly what she wanted to say. Luke was someone who deserved partial custody of his daughter and she was going to do anything she could to help him achieve that. After all, he had helped her so much over the years that she needed to re-pay him somehow. Not that she was just doing this out of re-payment of some kind; she was writing this because she genuinely wanted too.

Satisfied with the character reference, Lorelai folded the piece of paper and slid it in the stamped and addressed envelope. She put on her coat and scarf before heading downstairs. She walked into the living room with letter in hand. Rory was sitting on the couch with the remote in her hand.

"Going somewhere?" Rory asked noticing that Lorelai had her coat on.

"I'm just going to step out, mail this, I'll be right back," Lorelai promised.

"Okay hurry back so we can begin our Christmas movie marathon," Rory said.

"Okay," Lorelai replied as she headed out the door.

Lorelai headed down the street to the postal drop box. She opened it and slid the envelope with Luke's character reference down into it. As the letter dropped, the snow began to fall. Lorelai looked up at the sky and smiled up at the snow. Maybe this was some way of telling her this was all a new beginning, after all, good things happened when it snowed. They always had. Instead of walking back towards her house, she found herself walking towards the town square. Before too long, she found herself sitting in the gazebo staring across the street at the diner. A light was still on in the diner and she could see Luke moving around. She knew it was closed. As she watched Luke work, she knew that she needed to talk to him. She never really apologized for everything that happened between them, the ultimatum, sleeping with Christopher, 'marrying' Christopher. All of that was just so wrong and unfair to Luke and she never really apologized for any of it. She sat in the gazebo trying to work up the courage to walk into the diner and just apologize.

Luke went about his usual closing time ritual; putting chairs on tops of tables, wiping off counters, making sure everything was cut off. He grabbed the rag and began to wipe off the counter one last time. As he reached the end of the counter, he glanced up and stared at the window. He noticed the snow falling down and thought back to the time Lorelai drug him out of bed in the middle of the night because it was snowing. He quickly shook the thought out of his head when something caught his eye, there was a figure sitting in the gazebo. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the figure was Lorelai. Of course she was out in the snow, she loved snow. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself putting on his jacket and heading out the diner door.

Lorelai watched as Luke walked out the diner door and towards the gazebo. Her heart started racing faster as he got closer and closer. She scooted over on the bench so he would have room if he wanted to sit down.

"Hey," Luke said as he approached.

"Hey," Lorelai replied softly.

Luke walked into the gazebo and sat down on the opposite end of the bench making sure there was a little space between him and Lorelai. Lorelai turned towards him knowing that this was her opportunity to apologize and say what she really wanted to say.

* * *

**Cliffhanger, dun dun dun. Don't hate me too much for that. I promise they will talk in the next chapter. As you can see I decided to have Emily not know about the marriage. I didn't want to make her the villain in all of this; not for this story anyways. I want to work on her relationship with Lorelai.**

**Please leave a review! I have the next chapter pretty much written already so leave reviews and the next chapter will be posted as soon as I can.**

**Reviews:  
Chloe: Thanks for reviewing!**

**Matcris1: You're right, the marriage lasted too long. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Nancy: I made Emily not know for this story just because I want her and Lorelai to get along, somewhat anyways. I glad you enjoyed that certain exchange. I'm working on Lorelai getting on with her life. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Gilmoreintraining: That's fine. Absolutely no surprise that Christopher is an idiot, haha. Thanks for reviewing!**

**BFD: It's a long road and the next chapter will have them talking so they can start on that road. Thanks for reviewing!**

**SA-Fan 2011: Long review but I love it. I agree with all the points that you made. I agree that she was scared of losing Lorelai because it could have easily happened. I have always thought that they were way more similar than they wanted to admit. I also think Lorelai was jealous of Luke/April because she didn't have that kind of dad. I agree especially with how you say they don't want to admit that they need one another. I'm going to try to work on that in this story between Emily and Lorelai when they speak again. All your points made sense. Thanks for reviewing and sharing everything that you did.**

**Gilmoregirllover101: Next chapter will be more Luke and Lorelai. I know I promised it in this chapter but it didn't quite work out like I planned. Thanks for reviewing!**

**No one: I'm glad you're enjoying it. Thanks for reviewing!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**I know I just updated but I already had this chapter pretty much written so I decided to go ahead and post it. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"What are you doing out here?" Luke asked. "It's freezing."

Lorelai sighed, "I was out mailing your character reference and it started snowing. You know me and snow, so I just took a walk and ended up here."

"Thank you for writing that by that way," Luke replied.

"You're welcome."

"You didn't have to do that, you didn't have to write one."

"Yes I did," Lorelai said.

"No you really didn't, not after everything," Luke said.

"I did have to do it Luke. You deserve this and I would do anything to help you out," Lorelai replied. Luke had always been there for her and this was the one thing that Luke really deserved so she was doing whatever she could to make sure he could get partial custody.

"Thank you again," Luke said.

Lorelai nodded her head, "You're welcome." A silence fell between them as they sat in the gazebo both watching the snow fall around them. "I'm not married," she blurted out.

"What?" Luke asked clearly confused. "But you and him…"

Lorelai interrupted, "I'm not legally married. As it turns out you can't just get married in Paris on a whim when you're just visiting. So I'm not married," she said holding up her left hand to reveal that it was sans ring.

"Are you and him…." Luke trailed off hopping she got his point.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, he's gone. He left. We're over. We're done; poof no more marriage, nothing like that. Everything is over."

"This didn't have anything to do with the fight the other night, did it?" Luke asked cautiously. He knew Lorelai was mad at both of them that night she walked up on them. He didn't want that to be the reason her marriage had dissolved. He didn't want to feel responsible for causing Lorelai even more pain.

"Christopher and I were fighting before that; that night Christopher and I talked when we got home and certain things were just brought to light. It wasn't the fight though, not really. It really just helped me to realize some things," Lorelai replied, "Some important things."

"What kind of things?" Luke asked.

Lorelai thought about it. She couldn't tell him that she still loved him, not right now at least. It wasn't the right time. Saying that now before everything else would just not feel right. She would tell him later though at some point, hopefully not too far in the future. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about at least not right now. You asked earlier what I was doing here and I said I was talking a walk. By the time I got to the gazebo, I realized that I needed to tell you something, well a few things actually but some of those will have to wait. One thing I wanted to say was that I'm sorry."

"Lorelai, you don't have to apologize," Luke said.

"That's where you're wrong Luke. I do have to apologize for so many things," Lorelai answered. "I need to apologize. I never apologized for anything. The other night I told you not to apologize and you still did so that's what I need to do now. That's what I'm going to do."

Lorelai sat silently for a few minutes thinking of what she was going to apologize for first. It was best to start at the beginning. She knew the ultimatum was unfair and that she should apologize for that, so that's where she decided to start.

"I'm sorry for coming to you that night. I realize now that asking you to just run and elope with me was unfair. You had April to think about and I wasn't even considering her at that point and I'm sorry. I realize that you needed to get to know her but you were unintentionally pushing me away at that point and you didn't realize it. I thought the ultimatum would make you realize that. It was unfair though. I'm so sorry for coming to you like that. I was upset and just being completely selfish, I'm sorry Luke," Lorelai apologized. She swiped at her eyes quickly where a few tears had formed.

"It's okay Lorelai," Luke replied softly.

"No it's not," Lorelai said. "It's not okay."

"Lorelai, it's okay really. I forgave you for that already," Luke assured her.

Lorelai sighed, "I'm sorry for everything that happened that night. I should have never gone to Christopher. I just wanted to hurt you as badly as you hurt me over the past weeks. That was stupid and immature though. I should have just gone home and then maybe, just maybe we wouldn't be here like this. That night was a mistake and I hurt you and I'm sorry," she said now with more tears running down her face. "I hated hurting you like that. I'm sorry Luke, I'm so sorry for going to him."

Luke went to wrap an arm around her trying to comfort her but Lorelai scooted away. She wiped the tears away and looked up at Luke, "Please don't. You're just going to make it harder to keep talking here."

"Sorry," Luke apologized scooting away from her. He placed in his hands in his lap as she turned to face him.

"As sorry as I am for going to him that night, I'm even sorrier for marrying Christopher, or attempting to marry him. I know I hurt you by sleeping with him but I know that I hurt you even more by actually marrying him. I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did, I should have at least told you or something, I don't know. I should have never done that. I'm not even sure why I married him. I think I just needed to know that someone was there. I felt like everything was falling apart and he was there willing to marry me so I just jumped into it without thinking at all. I'm sorry Luke. I really am, I know that I could never apologize enough for everything but I'm going to try too," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai," Luke said quietly.

"And I'm sorry for not understanding your situation with April. I should have respected the fact that you wanted to get to know your daughter. I don't know, maybe I was jealous of you and her. She had this great father that she was trying to get to know and it just reminded me that I never had that growing up. My dad was never there and you were trying so, so hard to make up for the past 12 years. I admired that, I really did. My daughter's growing up and leaving me soon and I just couldn't help but feel jealous that you were just getting to know your daughter. Soon Rory will be gone off to do great, amazing things in this world, she will be starting her own life but you will still have April, even if it is just weekends and holidays," Lorelai said. "I don't know I punished you for trying to do the right thing when I shouldn't have. I just, I was always close to Rory but I'm no longer that close to her and it hurt me so I hurt you. That was wrong and I'm sorry."

"Lorelai," Luke began again only to be interrupted once again by Lorelai.

"I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry for ruining what we had. I'm sorry for running to you hysterical instead of trying to sit down and talk to you about what was going on. I should have talked to you that night," Lorelai rambled on.

"Lorelai," Luke called. "Lorelai," he called again louder finally getting her attention.

"What?" she asked tearfully.

"I forgive you Lorelai, I really do. You don't have to keep apologizing," Luke said. "I understand. I know that you're sorry but you don't have to keep apologizing. I know you never meant to hurt me or anyone else."

"You forgive me?" Lorelai asked in disbelief, "You forgive me for cheating on you, for marrying that same man, you forgive me just like that?"

Luke nodded, "I forgive you," he repeated. "Not really the easiest thing to do but I forgive you. I wouldn't be here sitting with you if I didn't forgive you. It really didn't even take long for me to forgive you Lorelai."

Tears started running down her face even harder. She turned away from Luke as she tried to stop the tears.

"Lorelai, what's wrong?" Luke asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Nothing."

"You're crying, what's wrong?" Luke asked. "It's not nothing."

Lorelai turned back around to face Luke, the tears stopped temporarily, "You Luke, it's you."

"What did I do?" Luke asked confused once again.

"You're just you Luke; you're just a great person. You forgave me for being absolutely terrible and selfish. That night, I was just thinking about myself and what I wanted; I didn't even consider you, April, or even Rory. I was focused on me and you just forgave me for all of that. If the roles were reserved, I don't know if I could have forgiven you like you have for me," Lorelai replied. "How can you just do that?"

"Because," Luke started to say. Because I still love you is what he wanted to say but knew this was not the time or place to say this. She was just getting out of a relationship and he needed to give it time. He forgave her that part was true but he couldn't really trust her anymore at least not right now. He knew that one day he could trust her again but her indiscretions still weighed heavily in his mind when it came to trusting her. "Because I needed to forgive you, I wanted to forgive you. You deserved to be forgiven Lorelai. Despite what you may think, you're a great person too."

Lorelai smiled weakly, "Oh Luke, thank you."

"You're welcome," Luke replied with a small smile of his own.

"When's your custody hearing?" Lorelai asked.

"Two days from now, why?" Luke replied.

"Just wondering," Lorelai said wiping at her eyes once again. She stood up from the bench, "Rory's at home waiting for me and I have been gone longer than expected."

"Okay," Luke replied standing up as well. "I'll let you get home then."

Lorelai turned and walked out of the gazebo with Luke following behind her. He headed towards the diner while she headed back towards her house. She was just a few steps from Luke when she turned back around, "Hey Luke," she called.

"Yeah?" Luke asked.

"Call me," Lorelai said, "When you find out whether or not you won your custody case, call me. I want to know."

"I will," Luke promised. He watched Lorelai turn back around and continue walking towards her house. He smiled to himself knowing that Lorelai wanted him to call her after his custody hearing. Maybe this was another tiny step in the right direction for both of them.

* * *

Lorelai made her way in the front door to find Rory still camped out in front of the TV.

"What took you so long? I thought you were just going to mail a letter," Rory said. She turned around to face Lorelai and saw her cheeks stained with tears, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

Lorelai smiled, "I'm fine sweetie, I really am," she said as she took off her jacket. She joined Rory on the couch.

"Then why were you crying?" Rory asked.

"I was talking to Luke, it was good talk though. Something we both needed, I think. I just apologized for things, told him I wasn't married, we just talked and it was great," Lorelai said. "I just got a little teary-eyed while talking but I'm promise I'm fine. I'm better than fine actually, I'm great."

Rory smiled and hugged her mother, "I'm glad, now movie time?"

Lorelai laughed, "Of course it's movie time, you have the cookies?"

Rory held up a plate of cookies she decorated that afternoon, "Right here, all decorated and ready to eat."

Lorelai picked up a cookie, "Even though Christmas is late, I'm glad we're doing it now, just the two of us."

Rory smiled again, "Me too."

* * *

**So Luke and Lorelai talked, hope you enjoyed it. They will talk again soon, I assure you. I know, I know you probably want them to both just admit that they still love one another but that's going to take a little bit of work. I promise we're getting there though.**

**Please leave a review! Thanks for continuing to read and review.**

**Reviews:**  
**Chloe: Thanks for reviewing!**

**Sarai: Thank you! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Nancy: I'm going to work on the Lorelai/Emily relationship a little bit more. I hope you enjoy the conversation between them in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Gilmoreintraining: I don't think I've said it before but I just love your username. Anyways, I'm glad you love the story. Thanks for reviewing!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**So this chapter has no Luke just mentions of his name so to make up for that I'm posting two chapters at once!**

* * *

"Do you really have to go back today?" Lorelai asked the next morning as they sat in Weston's enjoying their coffee and breakfast.

Rory nodded, "Like I already told you a million times this morning, yes I have to go back today."

Lorelai pouted, "I know, I just wish you could stay longer. I'm going to be all alone in the house by myself. Well no I have Paul Anka, he's company somewhat anyways."

"I know but I have to go back to Yale," Rory replied.

"I know sweets; at least we can enjoy breakfast together before you head back," Lorelai said.

"So you and Luke had a good talk last night?" Rory asked. Lorelai nodded her head. "You didn't say too much about it when you came home."

"There's not much to say really. Like I told you, I told him I wasn't married. Actually I blurted that part out. I apologized for everything and he said her forgave. I know it's not much but I think this is a good start for us," Lorelai replied.

"A good start for what?" Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed, "Just to be us again; just to be Luke and Lorelai again, where I annoy him for coffee and he eventually gives in. Anything else will just take time. Right now, I want to be able to talk to him again without everything feeling awkward."

"You'll both get there," Rory assured her. "You guys can get through this."

"Thank you," Lorelai said gently.

"I hate to ruin this moment but I really need to go and you need to get to the Inn," Rory replied.

"Bleh work," Lorelai groaned. "At least I can talk to Sookie about this whole marriage thing. I'll see you sometime soon?" she asked as they exited Weston's.

"I'll come home as soon as I have time," Rory said.

Lorelai smiled, "Good," they hugged before both going their separate ways.

* * *

Lorelai finished what she was working on at the front desk before walking into the kitchen. She fixed herself a cup of coffee before sitting down on a stool waiting for Sookie to finish telling one of the kitchen workers what to do.

"Notice anything different?" Lorelai asked as Sookie walked over to her. She deliberately placed her hands in front of Sookie's face hoping that Sookie would notice.

Sookie took in her appearance for a few minutes before realizing that something was missing, "Your wedding ring, it's gone! So you and Christopher…"

"We're over," Lorelai announced. "Long story short, I found out my marriage was not legal. Christopher and I were going to get a divorce anyways after fighting over things which I already told you about. Finding out the marriage wasn't legal and finding out that Christopher knew and was trying to get us married legally in the states just made things a whole lot easier."

"Oh sweetie, are you okay?" Sookie asked. "How are you doing?"

"I'm actually doing pretty great. I thought I would be more upset than I am but I'm good," Lorelai replied.

"That's good. Wait, wait, Christopher knew the marriage wasn't legal?" Sookie asked. Lorelai nodded, "And he didn't tell you?"

"Nope, Rory told me she had a weird feeling about the marriage so we both researched it, I went to a lawyer and found out the marriage wasn't legal. I confronted Christopher he told me that he knew. This just means I don't have to go through a divorce. I gave him back the ring, he packed up his stuff, and now he's gone," Lorelai said. "I'm good though. I had Rory there when he left so I wasn't alone."

"That's really great," Sookie said.

"Guess what I did last night though?" Lorelai asked as she popped a piece of a cookie in her mouth.

Sookie smirked, "Was it something slutty?"

Lorelai laughed, "Jeez Sookie I just got out of a marriage. I didn't have time to do anything slutty. Last night Luke and I talked."

"And nothing slutty happened?" Sookie asked.

"Okay, I made the mistake before of sleeping with a man right after a fight/end of relationship with another, not doing that again. It screws everything up," Lorelai said. "No, we just talked. I told him I wasn't married and apologized for things. He said he forgave me."

"He said he forgave you?" Sookie asked. Lorelai nodded, "Wow, that's really great Lorelai. What does this mean now?"

"It means that Luke forgave me and that maybe we can work towards having an actual conversation like we used to have before everything that happened between us. We have to get back to friends first before anything else, I know that," Lorelai replied.

"That will be good," Sookie said. "You know the town is going to go crazy once they find out that you're no longer married or that you were never really married. You know that they will think you and Luke are getting back together."

Lorelai sighed, "I know, well they can find out on their own. I already told you and Luke, that's all that matters. Hey I need to go to Hartford, I have to go see my mom about something ."

"Okay, see you later," Sookie said as Lorelai made her way out of the kitchen.

* * *

Lorelai found herself once again standing in front of the Gilmore Mansion. Her conversation with Luke the night before made her realize that she needed to talk to her mother again; maybe she really didn't know that marriage wasn't legal, maybe she was telling the truth, maybe this wasn't a scheme between her and Christopher. She talked and apologized to Luke and now it was time to do the same thing with her mother, or at least try to talk to her. Talking to Luke was a whole lot easier than talking to her mother. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello Lorelai, what are you doing here?" Emily asked as she answered the door.

Lorelai took a deep breath, "Can we talk?"

"Come in," Emily said stepping out the way to allow Lorelai inside. "Would you like something to drink, some tea or some coffee?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I'm good."

"Well what did you need to talk about?" Emily asked as they both took seats in the living room.

"Just please be honest," Lorelai said, "Did you really now know that my marriage to Christopher wasn't legal?"

"Lorelai, I already told you that I didn't know about that. I never knew that your marriage wasn't legal, I promise," Emily said.

"Okay," Lorelai said as she nodded her head. "Okay, I should probably just go."

"Okay?" Emily asked. "That's all you're going to say? Why is it so hard for you to believe me?"

Lorelai scoffed, "Why is it so hard for me to believe you? Maybe because you and Christopher have teamed up before to do what you thought was right. Or do you not remember how you two broke Luke and me up the first time?"

"I realize that was wrong, I never should have done that. I just thought that he wasn't good enough for you," Emily said.

"Well he is, well was," Lorelai said. "Who I want to be with is for me to choose, not yours. You have to realize this is my life, not yours."

"I know that," Emily said. "And I know that you really loved Luke. I changed my opinion on him for you; your father and I were even willing to buy you two a house as a wedding gift because you wanted to marry him and be with him."

Lorelai nodded, "I know, I remember," she said thinking back to the night that Emily showed her the houses. The night she needed to admit to herself that her marriage to Luke just wasn't going to happen.

"Lorelai," Emily said in a soft tone that was so unlike her, "I really did not know that your marriage wasn't legal."

"I believe you," Lorelai said honestly. "I really should go now though," she said as she got up and walked towards the door.

"Thank you for believing me," Emily said as Lorelai opened the front door.

Lorelai smiled to herself but didn't turn around to face her mother, "You're welcome," she replied before shutting the door and making her way out to her Jeep once again.

She sat in her parent's driveway for a few minutes thinking about what just happened. She actually believed her mother. She was now working on fixing two relationships, the one between her and Luke, and the one between her and her mother. This was going to take a lot of work but it would be worth it, if everything worked out in her favor.

* * *

**Please leave a review!**

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter.**

**Reviews:  
Chloe: 2 updates for you! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Sarai: Yeah she is. Thanks for reviewing!**

**BFD: There is still too much between them. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Nancy: I'm glad you thought it was great. Thank you for reviewing!**

**Alexrusso: Thank you! I have never written any M-scenes so I don't know if I will for this story. Thanks for the suggestion though. Also thanks for reviewing!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

The phone rang. Lorelai lifted her head up from her covers and reached for the phone. She blindly pressed the talk button as her head fell back down onto the covers. It was too early for a phone call.

"Whoever this is, you better have a damn good reason for waking me up this early," Lorelai groaned into the phone.

"Uhh Lorelai, I can call back," Luke replied sheepishly.

Lorelai sat up in bed when she recognized the voice as Luke's. She smoothed back her crazy bedhead hair as she leaned back against the headboard. She then realized there was no need to smooth down her hair; he couldn't see her through the phone.

"No Luke, it's fine," Lorelai said.

"Are you sure? I didn't mean to wake you up," Luke replied.

Lorelai sighed, "It's fine, I swear. I needed to get up anyways. Why are you calling by the way?"

"I just had to tell you I won."

"You won?" Lorelai asked not realizing what he was talking about.

"The custody hearing," Luke said. "You told me to call when you I heard."

Lorelai smiled, "Yeah I did. Sorry my brain isn't quite working yet, too early, no caffeine. You know me. Anyways what happened?"

"It's incredible. I thought I was screwed. I mean, her lawyer dug up every last bit of dirt she could find on me."

"But you still won."

"Yeah, the judge waited until this morning to give us her decision. Oh, man, was that the longest night of my life. But I just got off with my lawyer. I get shared custody," Luke replied excitedly.

"Congratulations Luke, I'm happy for you," Lorelai said sincerely.

"Yeah, I get to see April at least one weekend a month, every other major holiday, half the summer. We're going to work it all out. It's so great."

"So great," Lorelai agreed.

"Yeah, I guess the judge just took everything into consideration and realized how much I wanted to be in April's life. And, of course, your letter was a big help," Luke replied.

"Well I meant it, the letter. I meant everything that I wrote. I just wanted to help you, help April. It was the least I could do after everything that happened. You deserve this Luke and so much more," Lorelai said.

Luke smiled to himself, "You did really help. I'm really grateful for that," he said. "Thank you Lorelai."

"You're welcome Luke," Lorelai replied.

"Sorry to call so early, thanks again though."

"Well congratulations again, bye Luke," she said before hanging up the phone. She sighed and clutched the phone to her chest after hanging up. Even though she had asked him to call and tell her whenever he found out about his custody hearing, it meant a lot to her that he did actually call. It meant a lot that she was the first person that he decided to call after hearing the verdict. A smile graced her face as she started to get ready for the day.

Later that morning she heard the doorbell ring as she was just finishing getting dressed to go to the Inn, she quickly buttoned up her shirt and headed down stairs. She opened the front door to find no one standing there. Instead sitting on the porch at her feet was a take-out cup and a bag that could only be from Luke's. She smiled and picked up the cup and bag before walking back inside. She placed the cup on the table as she opened the bag to reveal a cherry danish and a note. She sat down at the table as she unfolded the small scrap of paper.

_Sorry again for waking you up so early. Hopefully this makes up for it._

_Luke._

"I can't believe he ding-dong ditched me," Lorelai said looking down at Paul Anka. "At least he brought coffee though."

Lorelai smiled and refolded the note before pulling the cherry Danish out of the bag. She sipped on the coffee that she had missed so much recently as she pinched off a piece of the Danish to eat. She smiled to herself as she chewed the Danish thinking that things were slowly returning back to normal.

* * *

Later that day, while on a break from the Inn, Lorelai decided to head to Doose's to pick up a few essentials for the house. She parked her bike in front of Doose's since she had to use it to get to work this morning since something was wrong with her jeep. She grabbed a basket as she walked through the door and began to fill it with the things she needed. She grabbed the box of cereal that she wanted the other day that Christopher had decided to put back. She paid for her items and walked out of Doose's. She spotted Luke walking down the sidewalk and was making her way over to him to talk when she was accosted by Miss Patty and Babette.

"Is it true dear?" Miss Patty asked.

"Is what true?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Oh you know what we're talking about sugar," Babette said.

Lorelai sighed, "Yes Christopher and I are no longer together, our marriage was never legal. End of story, he's gone."

"Oh I know that I saw him packing boxes into his car," Babette replied.

"We were talking about you and Luke," Miss Patty explained.

_Here we go_, Lorelai thought. "What about Luke and me?"

"I saw him sneaking away from your house early this morning. Are you two back together?" Babette asked.

"That was taken way out of context. Luke and I are not together," Lorelai replied. "I just got out of a relationship and I'm not rushing into anything else. He just brought me coffee this morning, that's it."

"Well just because you're not in a relationship doesn't mean that you still can't do things with Luke," Miss Patty said with a smirk.

Lorelai smiled and shook her head, "I'm not rushing into anything and that includes sex."

"Well that's too bad, I mean you and Luke," Babette said.

Lorelai smiled again as she turned and walked away from the gossips, "I'll see you later ladies." She started to walk home to drop off her bags. Luke soon fell along beside her walking.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," Lorelai replied.

"Do you need any help with that?" Luke asked gesturing towards the bags.

Lorelai smiled, "I got it, but thanks," she said shifting the bags around in her arms.

"Are you sure?" Luke asked. "You look like you could use help."

"I got it," Lorelai replied stubbornly.

"Here," Luke said taking two bags from her. He knew she was struggling to carry them.

Lorelai smiled gratefully, "Thanks. I had it though," she said.

"Where's your Jeep? Carrying bags would be a lot easier if you put them in your car," Luke said.

"Oh it's at home, it wouldn't start this morning. I rode my bike to work," Lorelai informed him. "I then realized that I couldn't carry bags and ride my bike at the same time so my bike is parked in front of the store and I'm walking home."

"Do you need me to look at it?" Luke asked. "I can come over and see what I can do," he offered.

"You don't have too Luke, I can just take it to Gypsy. It's really no problem," Lorelai said.

"Let me help you Lorelai," Luke said.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to," Lorelai replied. "It's fine Luke really. I mean we just started talking again, you don't have to do all of this for me."

"I want to help you," Luke said.

"Okay, thanks for helping me carry the bags back," Lorelai said as they approached her house and stood on the porch. She opened the door and walked inside.

Luke stood in the doorway not walking inside, "You're welcome," he said as Lorelai walked back to the front door. She grabbed the bags from him.

"Thanks for this morning, the coffee and danish," Lorelai said. "It makes it easier to forgive you for waking me up so early," she said with a smirk. "I've missed your coffee."

"You're welcome back in the diner anytime you want," Luke said. "I'll have to make sure to stock up on coffee but you can come in the diner."

Lorelai grinned, "Thank you Luke."

"No problem. I should get back to the diner," Luke replied.

"See you at the diner tomorrow then?" Lorelai asked.

"See you tomorrow," Luke agreed before walking off the porch.

Lorelai stood in the doorway and watched his retreating figure. As soon as he was out of her yard, she used her foot to shut the door considering her hands were full and walked towards the kitchen. As she unloaded the bags, she smiled to herself. She had been invited back to the diner. Tomorrow, she would go in, order coffee, maybe some breakfast or lunch depending on when she decided to go in, and then things would definitely start returning to normal. If there was any hope of anything romantic happening between the two, going back to the diner was a way to start.

Later that night, Rory called and Lorelai informed her of the day's events. Rory was happy that Lorelai had been invited back to the diner and that she was planning on going in tomorrow. Rory made her promise to call to tell her what happened during the diner visit. Lorelai promised she would call and talk with her daughter tomorrow.

* * *

**So next chapter will be going back to the diner and maybe a little something else.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

Lorelai walked down the streets of Stars Hollow towards the diner. Luke had invited her back the day before and she was ready for her first trip back. She stood outside the diner door watching Luke move around behind the counter serving customers. She stood there for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and heading inside the diner. The bells above the door signaled her arrival causing everyone to look towards the door. She breezed towards the counter and sat down on her favorite stool. Kirk came walking up behind her.

"You're in my seat," Kirk said causing Lorelai to turn around

"Your seat?" she questioned.

"Exactly," Kirk said, "Since you have not been in the diner in a while, I claimed that stool as mine."

"But I'm back now Kirk."

"It's still my seat."

"But I'm here now and I'm sitting here now, so it's my seat again," Lorelai said.

"But since you and Luke…..you haven't been in…..it's been my seat," Kirk stammered.

"Does it mean that much to you?" Lorelai asked.

Kirk nodded, "Yes, it does."

Lorelai scooted one stool over, "Fine have the seat, I'm fine with it." Kirk smiled and sat down.

"You really shouldn't give into him like that," Luke said walking over to Lorelai.

Lorelai waved her hand, "It's easier than dealing with an upset Kirk."

"Coffee?" Luke asked holding up the coffee pot.

Lorelai smiled, "You remembered."

"A few things about you stick," Luke replied. "Anything else?"

"I'm good," Lorelai replied.

Miss Patty walked up as Luke walked off, "It's nice to have you back here dear."

"Uh thank you, I guess," Lorelai said. "It's nice to be back," she said as Luke walked back by. Miss Patty headed back over to her table to join Babette.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else?" Luke asked.

Lorelai brought a finger to her chin as she pretended to think, "I may need to see a menu, it's been so long."

Luke sighed, "Jeez Lorelai," he said acting annoyed. He wasn't annoyed with her at all though. He was happy that she was acting like her usual self and trying to make this first diner visit as normal as possible.

"Already annoyed with me and I have only been here a few minutes. Mission accomplished," Lorelai said with a small smile.

"Are you going to order something or just sit there?" Luke asked.

"Actually can I just get a coffee to-go? I need to get to the Inn, lots of work to do," Lorelai replied.

Luke nodded and grabbed a to-go cup. He poured the coffee, snapped on the lid, and handed the cup off to Lorelai. "I can come by later and take a look at your jeep," he said.

"Um okay, I'll be at the Inn most of the day but you're welcome to go by the house anytime to look at it," Lorelai said.

"Okay, see you around," Luke said.

"Definitely," Lorelai said smiling, "See you around Luke." She made her way out the door with her to-go cup in hand.

* * *

"What is flannel man doing at your house?" Michel asked as he pulled up in Lorelai's driveway. He had actually offered to give her a ride home that day.

"He's just looking at my Jeep Michel," Lorelai said unbuckling her seatbelt. She watched as Luke stood in front of her jeep and search through his toolbox.

"I thought you were through with him," Michel replied.

Lorelai sighed, "We're friends, again. We're not through. See you at the Inn tomorrow," she said climbing out his car.

Lorelai walked over to Luke as Michel drove away from her house. "Hey, how's it going?" she asked as she approached Luke.

"Oh hey Lorelai," Luke sighed, "It's not looking too good."

Lorelai slumped her shoulders in defeat, "Oh no, can you fix it?"

"I might be able to," Luke said. "I'm not really sure though."

"Well I can always take it to Gypsy or someone else," Lorelai said. "You don't have to do this."

"I want to do this Lorelai, besides I can do this for free," Luke replied.

Lorelai sat down on the porch steps as she watched Luke work on her jeep. He moved around reaching into his toolbox every few seconds for a different tool.

"Do you need anything?" Lorelai asked breaking the silence in between them.

"I'm good," Luke replied without turning around.

"Okay, I'm just going to head inside for a minute to change," she told Luke before making her way inside the house. She headed up to the bedroom and quickly changed out of the dress she wore that day and opted for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. A few minutes later, Lorelai headed back outside and walked over to the jeep.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"Getting there," Luke said. "I think anyways."

"Good, that's good," Lorelai said leaning on the jeep.

"Can I ask you a question?" Luke asked looking up at Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded her head, "Yeah of course."

Luke paused for a few minutes, "What happened between you and Christopher?"

"What do you mean Luke?"

"You told me the other night that you two had been fighting. It just seems like things ended fast between the two of you. "

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "It's simple really; we just wanted different things."

"Meaning what?"

Lorelai sighed, it was just better to tell the truth. "He wanted kids, I didn't. That day he saw me with Doula, he said that we should have a baby but I didn't want a baby."

Luke thought back to the night he told her he bought the Twickham house and they both agreed that kids would be good for them. He wondered why she changed her mind on the idea of the baby.

"That conversation just brought other things to light and made us both realize that we made a mistake," Lorelai added on.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked concerned.

"Same question everyone keeps asking but yeah I'm okay," Lorelai said. "It's not like anyone in this town even liked him being here. I mean you did beat him up after all."

Luke sighed, "Lorelai…"

Lorelai cringed, "Sorry too early for a joke like that? I'm over that whole stupid fight anyways. It was a mistake and I'm sure you both liked punching the other one."

"Well…" Luke trailed off.

Lorelai giggled, "Don't worry I felt like punching him too when I found out the marriage wasn't legal and that he actually knew the marriage wasn't legal."

"He knew it wasn't legal?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "He was trying to make us have a ceremony here to make it legal."

"I can't believe that," Luke replied.

"I can, it's Christopher. I thought my mom was in on it too because she wanted a ceremony as well but as it turns out she never knew about it; which really surprised me. I think my mom and I are starting to actually get along for once."

Luke smiled, "That's good Lorelai."

"Yeah, we'll see how long it lasts," Lorelai replied. "I'm glad we're getting along again; you and me I mean."

"Me too," Luke replied.

"Thank you Luke," Lorelai said. "Just thank you for being here, for always being here."

Luke smiled again, "You're welcome Lorelai."

* * *

**Maybe a weird place to end it but oh well. Did you like it? Leave reviews and let me know. I have the next chapter planned out so maybe it won't take too long it get it posted. **

**I know the whole jeep thing is really playing out how it played out on the show right now but next chapter will kind of fix that issue, somewhat. Plus this is my story and it's not directly following the show anymore.**

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! I appreciate the feedback.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

Over the next few days, Luke returned to Lorelai's house to work on her jeep in his free time. Lorelai always joined him outside whenever he came over to work. The more work Luke put into the jeep, the more he realized that fixing the jeep was not going to be as easy as he thought. They had been to look for a car but Lorelai refused to pick one because she just wanted her Jeep and nothing else; nothing newer.

Lorelai walked out of the house and shut the door behind her. She watched as Luke pulled into the driveway and shut off his truck. He got out of the truck and began walking towards her with papers in his hands.

Lorelai sighed as she walked off the porch towards him, "Please no more bad news about my jeep. I don't think I can take any more bad news. It's already been a bad morning. I tore a hole in my favorite pair of pants, saw the world's largest spider in my shower, and realized this morning that I was out of coffee, so please no bad news. Or you know if it's going to be bad news at least let me get some coffee first."

"Actually I have good news," Luke replied.

"Oh thank god," Lorelai said, "So what's the good news?"

"I may have found a solution to your problem with the jeep," Luke said.

Lorelai's face brightened, "Really?"

Luke nodded, "Yeah," he said showing her the papers in his hand, "I found this guy online."

"You found a guy online? My, my, what were you searching for exactly Luke Danes?" Lorelai asked.

"Jeez Lorelai," Luke replied.

"Sorry, continue please," Lorelai said.

Luke began explaining the information he found online. He explained how the guy he found was selling a jeep like Lorelai's, which would help him get parts he needed to fix her jeep.

"So with this my jeep will be completely fixed?" Lorelai asked, "Meaning I can drive it again?"

"That's what I'm thinking. I already talked to the guy and I can go by and get the parts whenever," Luke said. "I was thinking about going today since I can get away from the diner."

"Luke that's great but I can't go with you today, I have to get to the Inn," Lorelai said.

"I can just go pick up the parts," Luke replied, "You don't have to go."

"I think I should go with you," Lorelai said. "I mean this is my jeep and someone is going to have to pay for the parts and that someone should be me considering that once again this is my jeep."

Luke nodded his head, "Okay, I guess that's fair. Do you need a ride to work?"

"Well I was going to ride my bike but I guess you giving me a ride wouldn't hurt," Lorelai said.

Luke smirked in response as he started to get into his truck. Lorelai climbed in the passenger side and noticed the smirk that still crossed Luke's face.

"What?" Lorelai asked. "What did I say? Why are you smirking like that Luke?"

Luke backed out of the driveway and began driving towards the Inn before opening his mouth to give a response, "Now if I would have said what you did, you would have given me a 'dirty' in response."

Lorelai eyes widened as she gasped, "That wasn't even that dirty."

"It would have still earned a 'dirty' from you," Luke replied.

"You're probably right," Lorelai said. "I can't believe you beat me at my own game."

"So tomorrow we can go get those parts if you're free," Luke said.

Lorelai smiled, "Sounds good to me."

The rest of the short ride to the Inn was silent; not an awkward silence though, just a silence between two people who were comfortable with one another where words didn't always have to be spoken. Lorelai smiled to herself on the ride thinking how happy she was that things with Luke and her were finally back on the right track. They fell right back into being friends, the past few days almost making it seem like they had lost no time at all. Now maybe they could begin to work on something romantic. When they arrived at the Inn, Lorelai thanked Luke for the ride before heading inside trying to avoid Michel's suspicious eyes following her. Lorelai walked through the Inn and headed towards the kitchen for coffee, Michel followed right behind her.

"Coffee, coffee, coffee," Lorelai said as she headed straight for the coffee pot.

"Lorelai why did that flannel man give you a ride to work this morning?" Michel asked.

Sookie dropped the pot she was holding causing sauce to fly everywhere and turned towards Lorelai, "Luke gave you a ride here this morning, what was he doing at your house this early?" she questioned. "Ooh did he spend the night?" she squealed.

"Michel as I said the other day, we're friends again; he just offered me a ride to work and no Sookie he didn't spend the night. Luke and I are friends, he came over this morning to tell me that he found a way to fix my Jeep," Lorelai explained. She looked over at Sookie and saw the look there, "I'm serious nothing happened," she added.

"Are you sure?" Sookie squealed again.

Lorelai laughed, "I'm sure. I think I would know if I slept with Luke," she said. "Nothing happened."

"But you'll tell me if something does happen?" Sookie asked.

"If anything happens, I'll tell you," Lorelai promised. "Now I need to actually work," she said exiting the kitchen with coffee cup in hand.

* * *

Later that day, Lorelai decided to walk home from the Inn. As she walked down her driveway, she noticed Luke's truck parked there once again. She spotted Luke once again working on her jeep. She walked over to him and leaned against the jeep.

"So what's this about?" Lorelai asked. "I thought nothing else could be done until you got the parts and I thought we were going to get the parts tomorrow."

"Well," Luke sighed, "I realized that I wouldn't have much free time tomorrow since I decided to give Cesar some time off for working a lot more these past few days. I needed to get the parts to fix your jeep so I just went today and got them."

"Luke, you shouldn't have done that," Lorelai said. "At least let me pay you back," she said digging through her purse for her checkbook.

Luke waved her off, "Don't worry about it, it didn't cost that much anyways."

"No Luke, I'm going to pay you back," Lorelai said after finally locating her checkbook and a pen. She flipped through until she landed on a blank check, "Now how much do I owe you?"

"I said don't worry about it Lorelai."

"I'm going to worry about it, now just tell me how much."

Luke closed the hood to the jeep and took a step back, "Just get in and see if it works now."

"Not until you tell me how much I owe you," Lorelai replied.

"How about this, we see if it works first and then we can talk about how much it cost," Luke suggested.

Lorelai shoved the checkbook in her purse knowing that Luke wasn't ever going to let her pay him back, "Fine," she replied getting the keys from her purse.

Lorelai stepped into the jeep and slid the keys into the ignition. She saw Luke watching her intently as she twisted the keys. A wide smile stretched across Lorelai's face as the jeep roared to life. She looked up to see Luke smiling back at her. She cut off the jeep and jumped out of the car. She clapped her hands and squealed excitedly.

"You did it, you fixed my jeep Luke," she said. "Thank you."

"I just like to see you happy," Luke replied.

Without thinking too much, she launched herself at Luke and into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. Luke hesitated for just a moment before wrapping her up in an equally tight embrace. Lorelai pulled back slightly just enough to look at Luke. They stared at one another and without knowing who began leaning in first, their lips met in a soft kiss. The kiss started off slow but quickly intensified as all the pent-up emotions from the past few months were poured into the kiss. Lorelai moved her hands to the back of his head pressing herself tighter against him. Both were lost in the kiss, neither one caring that they were both well within the prying eyes of Babette. If she happened to be outside when the kiss began, they didn't know. They parted for a second just to catch their breath before leaning in again for a second, more passionate kiss.

* * *

**Probably hate that I'm ending this here, right? Sorry :) but I did finally make them kiss so you can't be too mad at me. Hopefully.**

**So I don't think this is the end of the story but we're getting close. I have a few directions in mind for the next chapter but not sure which direction I want to go in. Any suggestions leave them below please.**

**Please leave a review, I love receiving feedback.**

**Reviews:  
alexrusso: I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**Joana: Hi! It's fine, I'm just glad that you did decide to leave a review. I agree on the whole Lorelai/Emily thing which is why I decided to work on it in this story. Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**Nancy: I had to throw the Kirk thing in since it did happen on the show and since I just love Kirk for the comedic relief. Thanks for reviewing! :)**

**Gilmoreintraining: I had to make them friends again before anything else. Thanks for reviewing! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

A few kisses later, Luke and Lorelai were still located in the middle of the yard completely ignoring everything around them.

Babette was walking out of her house when she glanced over towards Lorelai's yard and witnessed Luke and Lorelai in a passionate embrace. A smile crossed her face. "Morey! Get me the phone!" She screeched rushing back inside the house.

The screech was loud enough to break Luke and Lorelai apart. Lorelai still had her arms wrapped around Luke's neck as she started to giggle. She ducked her head to Luke's shoulder as the giggles turned into full blown laughter.

"What?" Luke asked with a small smile playing on his face.

Lorelai shook her head as she continued to laugh. "Just Babette," she starts laughing again, "and the town," more laughing, "god they probably all know by now."

She lifted her head and glanced towards Babette's house. She suddenly sobered up as Babette's front door opened again and she came rushing over to Lorelai's yard with a huge grin plastered to her face. "Oh no, no, no get inside," she said pushing Luke firmly in the directions of the house. "Sorry Babette can't talk now, I'm busy," she said rushing into the house and slamming the door. Lorelai started laughing again as she leaned against the door.

"What's funny now?" Luke questioned.

Lorelai quieted herself down, "I just told Babette I was busy as I pushed you into the house, you know what she probably thinks we're in here doing. She's probably outside listening for sounds of reconciliation," she said waggling her eyebrows.

"Jeez," Luke muttered even though he knew it was probably true.

Lorelai started laughing again. She looked at the confused look on Luke's face and laughed even harder.

"Is it that funny to you that we kissed?" Luke asked getting slightly angry.

"No, no, not that," Lorelai said in between laughs. "It's just for someone who is not a fan of PDA, those were some amazing kisses to be in the middle of the yard when I live next door to one of the biggest gossips in Stars Hollow."

"This town is insane," Luke replied.

"You're telling me," Lorelai sighed. "You might be shanghaied if you try to leave."

"Trying to keep me here?" Luke asked with a smirk on his face.

"Uh do you really want to leave and be faced with Patty and Babette badgering you with questions or any of the other townspeople for that matter," Lorelai replied.

"Can't they just mind their own business?" Luke asked.

"Nope," Lorelai stated. After a few minutes, she added, "Well if you're staying, we need to talk."

"Yeah."

"Living room?" Lorelai suggested as she began to walk into the living room. Luke nodded as he followed Lorelai. They took seats on opposite ends of the couch. After a few minutes Lorelai turned towards Luke. "So we kissed."

Luke smiled, "Yes we did."

"And it was more than once, there were quite a few kisses there mister," Lorelai replied. "A few great kisses."

"Really?"

"Rivaling our first kiss great," Lorelai added. She took a deep breath, "I think from those kisses that we both feel the same way but if I am wrong then please stop me right now so I don't make a fool of myself. This is one thing that I do not want to be wrong about thought. If I am wrong then I don't know where to go from here."

"You're not wrong," Luke replied causing Lorelai to smile. "I want to do this again, to be with you again."

"That's what I want too Luke but we can't do this if you're going to keep me separate from your life. I can't be completely separate. I understand that right now you may not trust me, hell I wouldn't trust me after everything, but if we are going to try and be us again, to try and be a couple again, I can't be a separate part of your life," Lorelai replied.

"I know Lorelai," Luke said.

Lorelai sighed, "I don't mean I have to get to know April right away but if we are going to do this, and I mean seriously do this again, I have to know her at some point. It can just start with me simply swinging by the diner when she's there filling out salt and pepper shakers, you know? I can just casually walk in and say 'hey, nice to see you again,' or something like that but I can't be completely separate from everything, not again."

"I understand that," Luke said. "I want you to know her, you deserve to know her. The thing is though; I don't have any time with her before she moves away. After the trial, Anna announced they were moving as soon as April could leave school but I won't get any time with her before then. I want you to know her but I just don't think it can happen anytime really soon."

Lorelai nodded, "I understand. I just want to know her Luke. Not to brag or anything but I do think that my letter was what clinched you getting partial custody of her, I mean it was a great letter," she said with a mixture of smugness and humor.

"Your letter is what helped me out," Luke replied. "I don't think I would have gotten custody of her without that letter."

"Well then it's only right that I get to know her."

"I will work on that," Luke replied.

"In the meantime, we can work on this," Lorelai said using her finger to gesture between them, "We can work on us, because it will take some work."

Luke scooted down the couch closer to Lorelai and took her hands in his, "We'll be okay."

"Are you sure about that?" Lorelai asked quietly. "You sure we'll be okay?"

Luke nodded, "I'm positive; we're going to be okay. This is going to work this time. We are going to make it work."

Lorelai smiled, "Want to stay over for dinner? I can't cook you anything but I can order a pizza. It will keep you from having to face the town crazies for a little while longer. It will give us a little more time to talk as well."

"Sounds good," Luke replied.

"Great, I'll even make them throw in a salad for you," Lorelai said as she made her way over to the phone.

* * *

Later that night, Luke and Lorelai were sitting on her couch after having eaten the pizza. They were both still trying to avoid any contact from the outside world, just wanting to hold onto their reconciliation a little longer before the whole town would relentlessly question them about what's going on.

"You ate pizza," Lorelai said looking at Luke.

"I eat pizza every now and then," Luke replied.

"Such a rare sight, you're like a unicorn when you eat pizza," Lorelai joked. "Thank you for staying Luke."

Luke smiled, "You're welcome."

Lorelai ran her hand along his cheek feeling the fine stubble there before she leaned in and kissed him. Luke responded instantly wrapping an arm around her waist holding her close to him as he deepened the kiss. She straddled his lap all while keeping their lips locked in a passionate kiss. Her hands pushed his baseball cap from his hand and ran through his hair. She moaned softly as he broke away from the kiss and began sucking on the sensitive skin located beneath her ear lobe. She smiled devilishly as she rocked her hips back and forth eliciting a loud groan from Luke. She kept rocking her hips against him slowly as she ducked her head to his neck nipping and sucking, repeating the same motions he was just doing a few minutes ago.

Lorelai moved her lips away from his neck, kissing around his jawline until she found his lips once again, "Upstairs," she whispered huskily.

"Are you sure?" Luke asked.

Lorelai smiled and rocked her hips once again against him, "I'm sure Luke," she replied. She looked into his eyes and noticed the uncertain and questioning look there, "Please Luke? Please, please, please?" she whispered.

Soon clothes were being shed as they made their way up to the bedroom. A trail of clothes started at the couch, continued up the staircase, and trailed into the bedroom where Luke and Lorelai fell onto the bed making up for the many months they missed together.

* * *

**Next chapter will have more of the town including Sookie and Rory. I do have more plans for Luke and Lorelai to talk too, to try and work things out. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter.**

**Also I just took my own creative liberties with the April thing just to fit into this story.**

**Please leave a review! :)**

**Reviews:  
BFD: Thank you and thanks for reviewing!**

**Nancy: Babette did see and spread the word; I will have more of that in the next chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Joana: I will have more of them talking soon and more of the town in the next chapter. I just wanted this chapter to be mainly about them. Thanks for reading a reviewing!**

**Alexrusso: Well not an M-scene because I don't know if I want to try and write those yet but this alluded to M-rated things and would make Sookie happy about what they're doing, so hope you enjoyed haha. Thanks for reviewing!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai walked into her bedroom, clad only in her bathrobe, carrying Luke's flannel in one hand and his blue baseball cap in the other; she sat on the edge of the bed with the items in her hand as she watched Luke put on his jeans.

"Paul Anka lovingly piled your shirt and cap at the bottom of the stairs, I guess in an attempt to clean," Lorelai replied, "That or he's just happy that you're back. I know I'm happy you're back."

"Me too," Luke smiled, "Are you gonna hand me my shirt?"

Lorelai put her finger on her chin pretending to think, "Hmm nope, I'll think I'll keep it, it will keep you here with me."

"I need my shirt, I have to get back to the diner," Luke replied.

Lorelai held the shirt behind her back and smiled, "Come and get it then."

Luke walked over to the bed and leaned down pressing his lips to hers. Lorelai dropped the shirt in her hands as she moved her hands to Luke's face deepening the kiss. Luke reached behind her and grabbed the shirt before breaking the kiss.

"Got it," Luke replied.

Lorelai pouted, "No fair, you distracted me."

"I have to get to the diner and you have to get to the Inn," Luke reminded her as he buttoned up his flannel shirt.

"Ugh fine," Lorelai said standing up from the bed and walking across the room, "but are you sure you have to go right now, because I'm about to jump in the shower and I could always use a shower buddy."

"I would like too but I was supposed to open the diner this morning, right now no one is even at the diner," Luke replied.

Lorelai loosened the belt on her bathrobe as she stood in the doorway to the bathroom, "Fine, your loss, see you later," she said letting the bathrobe slip off her shoulders as she shut the bathroom door, leaving a stunned Luke standing in her bedroom.

* * *

Later that morning, Lorelai strolled into the Inn with a huge smile on her face. She had managed to avoid Babette's questions this morning as she left the house claiming she had to get to an emergency meeting at the Inn. The rest of the townspeople had gathered at Luke's waiting for someone to open the diner so they could discuss the news of Luke and Lorelai's reconciliation. She felt guilty making Luke go to the diner alone and deal with everyone but she really did need to get to the Inn. She knew Luke could handle the townspeople questions but threatening to throw them out of the diner. Plus she really just wanted to get to the Inn to inform Sookie about her and Luke, even though she knew she probably already heard.

"Hello," Lorelai called cheerfully as she entered the kitchen and headed towards the coffee pot.

Sookie turned around brandishing a wooden spoon causing sauce to go flying all around the kitchen, "You! You did something slutty! You did something slutty with Luke!"

Lorelai used one finger to wipe the sauce off that landed on her face and smiled, "I have no idea what you're talking about," she claimed innocently.

"Whatever, Jackson said that Babette said you were kissing Luke and then pushing him into the house claiming you were busy and then he was still at your house this morning," Sookie informed.

"Your husband is such a gossip," Lorelai replied smiling, "But I can attest to Luke still being at my house this morning."

Sookie squealed, "You slept with Luke!"

Lorelai nodded smugly, "Oh yes I did, twice last night and then once again this morning."

"That explains why you're so happy," Sookie replied. "So how did this happen? Not how you slept together but how did you two get back together?"

"Well I got home yesterday, he had bought all these parts for my jeep, which I told him I would do, but he went ahead and bought them anyways. Anyways, my jeep works just fine now all thanks to him. We ended up kissing only to get caught by Babette which is when I shoved Luke into the house. He ended up staying for a while; we talked about things, and had pizza together. Then he ended up heading upstairs with me and staying the night," Lorelai replied, "He left this morning to go to the diner."

"So you guys are really back together now?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, at least I think so. We both want to get back together and understand that we are going to need to work on this, on us, but we're headed back to being officially back together at least."

"Oh this is so great," Sookie said hugging Lorelai, "Have you told Rory yet?"

Lorelai shook her head, "A little too busy last night to tell her but we have dinner with my parents tonight so I'll be able to tell her."

"Already going to tell your parents about you and Luke?" Sookie asked.

"Ehh probably not, that can wait but Rory needs to know before she comes home for the weekend, she's going to hear about it anyways," Lorelai replied. "I should go, get some work done, that type of thing. Bye Sookie."

Sookie squealed again as Lorelai left the kitchen, "They're back together," she said dancing around the kitchen.

* * *

"Is there a reason that you cannot stop grinning Lorelai?" Emily asked as they all sat around the dinner table that night. They were now eating dessert.

Lorelai shook her head, "I'm just happy Mom. Things with Chris are over and done with, my jeep is working again, and things are great at the Inn, so I'm just happy."

Rory shot her a curious look across the table. She also wondered while Lorelai was grinning all during dinner. Lorelai wasn't full of her usual sarcastic comments and wasn't trying to dominate the conversation, she was just sitting back listening to everyone else talk. Lorelai noticed the look Rory was giving her and mouthed an 'I'll tell you later,' when neither Emily nor Richard were watching.

After dessert, Lorelai and Rory walked out of the Gilmore Mansion. Lorelai walked towards her Jeep while Rory followed her.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on? None of grandma's comments got to you tonight, and you had hardly any sarcastic replies for anything," Rory said.

"Well," Lorelai said smiling, "Yesterday Luke and I kissed."

"Wait," Rory asked. "You and Luke kissed?"

Lorelai nodded, "We kissed, a few times and he even ended up spending the night."

"Don't go into any further details, nothing dirty," Rory warned. "But you and Luke kissed, this is great!"

"Very great," Lorelai agreed.

"So are you two back together now?" Rory asked.

"How about I explain everything when we get home?" Lorelai suggested.

Rory smiled, "Sounds good to me."

"Alright I'll meet you at home, I'm going to stop by the diner first, coffee?"

"Of course," Rory replied as she got into her car, "see you at home.

* * *

Lorelai arrived back in Stars Hollow and pulled up in front of the diner. She watched Luke through the window going through his closing routine before getting out of her jeep and making her way into the diner.

"Hey," she said softly as she walked over to the counter.

Luke turned around at the sound of her voice and smiled, "Hey back."

"Have any trouble with townspeople today?" Lorelai asked.

"They tried to stay here all day, I think they were waiting for you to show up," Luke replied.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to drop by, I had work at the Inn then dinner with my parents," Lorelai replied. "I told Rory about us, that we talked and kind of back together, I guess. Is that okay?"

"It's fine Lorelai, everyone else already knows," Luke replied smiling. "I'm glad you told Rory."

"Great," Lorelai replied, "Can I get two coffees to –go? Rory's home tonight."

Luke grabbed two to-go cups and poured coffee into both of them before snapping on the lids and passing them to Lorelai. He leaned over the counter and pressed a firm kiss to her lips.

Lorelai smiled, "Mm coffee and kisses? I really like that."

"Me too," Luke replied. "Well not the coffee part."

"I should get home," Lorelai said.

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Of course, Rory and I will be in for breakfast."

Luke smiled, "See you tomorrow then."

Lorelai tossed a smiled over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow," she said as she walked out the door.

Lorelai made her way through the front door of the Crap Shack with a coffee in each hand.

"I'm home and I brought coffee," Lorelai replied making her way to the living room where Rory was waiting for her.

"Coffee first," Rory said holding out her hands, "Then details about you and Luke, nothing dirty please."

"Got it," Lorelai said as she sat down next to Rory and launched into the story about how and Luke ended up kissing when she came home from the Inn the day before.

* * *

**Please leave a review. Thanks for continuing to read and review. I plan to have Luke and Lorelai talk a little more coming up soon.**

**Reviews:  
BFD: I'm glad I could make your day. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Nancy: You're welcome. Babette's radar is definitely always on. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Gilmoregirllover101: I'm glad, thanks for reviewing!**

**Alexrusso: Aww thanks! Thanks for reviewing!**


	15. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.**

**So I was having trouble with the next chapter in this story and I already knew how I wanted to end it so I decided to write an epilogue as the ending.**

* * *

Three years later.

"Luke," Lorelai called out as she walked through the front door of the Crap Shack. "Luke, where are you?"

"Kitchen," she heard Luke reply.

"I know I was supposed to be here earlier but I got held up at the Inn and I feel terrible because it's our anniversary and I…" she trailed off as she entered the kitchen. She stopped and smiled at the sight before her.

There was Luke dressed in one of the many outfits she bought him for their date nights so he would own something else besides jeans and flannel. He was holding a bouquet of daisies. A bottle of wine sat on the table top. Two single candles were also on the table, the flame slowly flickering.

"What is all of this?" Lorelai asked softly. "I thought we were going out."

"Well I know we had plans, we even had reservations but you have just been working a lot this week and you seemed really tired so I thought we could stay in tonight," Luke replied. "These are for you," he said handing her the bouquet of daisies.

Lorelai accepted the bouquet, sniffing the flowers before setting them down on the counter. She stepped forwards and placed her hands on either side of Luke's head bringing his lips down to hers. She kissed him slowly and tenderly.

"Happy one-year anniversary Mr. Danes," she whispered as she pulled away.

Luke reached up and grabbed her hand running his finger over her wedding ring, "Happy one-year anniversary Mrs. Danes."

Lorelai smiled brightly, "I still love the sound of that."

"I do too."

"Well Mr. Danes, you are dressed up all nice and I'm in these clothes," she said gesturing down to her outfit, "Do I have time to go and change into something else or is dinner ready?"

"You look beautiful but if you want to change then you have time," Luke replied.

"Great, because I have a great dress for tonight," Lorelai replied turning to walk out of the kitchen. She headed upstairs to change into the dress she bought a few days ago specifically for their anniversary.

A few minutes later, Lorelai appeared back in the kitchen dressed in a red dress. The dress was just shy of knee-length and hung tight to every curve of her body. Luke eyed her appreciatively as she sauntered towards him. He wrapped one arm around her waist before bending his head down and capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.

After a few minutes, Lorelai broke away from the kiss breathless, "I'm guessing that you like the dress."

Luke nodded and kissed her again.

"Mm I love the kissing but I'm also hungry, what's for dinner?" Lorelai asked.

"We have rosemary beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and there's an amaretto cheesecake in the refrigerator for dessert," Luke replied.

"That's exactly why I love you," Lorelai said smiling.

Luke grabbed Lorelai's hand and walked her the short distance across the kitchen to the table. He pulled out her chair and waited for her to sit down. He grabbed both plates off the counter and placed them on the table one in his spot and one in Lorelai's spot. He poured her a glass a wine and placed it in her hand. Lorelai looked into the glass before setting it on the table. Luke sat down at the table opposite of Lorelai.

"Before we start, I would like to give you your present," Lorelai said. "I think it's important that you get your gift first," she said standing up from the table. She walked into Rory's room and grabbed a small box out of the dresser in there. She smiled as she handed the box to Luke.

"Before you open it just know that this is not the most traditional present," Lorelai said.

Luke chuckled, "I wouldn't expect anything less from you." He opened the box to reveal a small black and white picture. He removed the picture and held it gently in his hands. He looked up to see Lorelai's grinning face. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

Lorelai nodded and walked back towards Luke, "Yeah, I'm pregnant; that's our baby."

Luke stood up and wrapped Lorelai in his arms. He squeezed her tightly before pulling back slightly to kiss her. Her hands wrapped around his neck as he kissed her passionately. He broke the kiss and ran his hand over her flat belly.

"We're really having a baby?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded enthusiastically, "We're really having a baby. I knew there had to be a reason I actually ate an apple the other day."

Luke kissed her again, "So I guess the wine for dinner is a waste."

Lorelai laughed, "Great idea but I can't drink it."

"You can't drink coffee either," Luke replied.

Lorelai gasped and pushed him away, "Don't even joke like that, not on our anniversary. You have to be nice to me. I'm carrying your child."

"Our baby," Luke said softly placing his hand back on her belly.

"Yeah, I think we should wait to tell the town. We can tell Rory and April and maybe my parents since they are going to question why I'm not drinking when we go to dinner at their house, but I want to really keep this quiet until the pregnancy is far enough along," Lorelai replied.

"We can do that," Luke replied.

"Okay, present time for you is over, so dinner time now," she said walking over to the table and sitting down.

Luke laughed as he walked back to the table, "You change subjects so quickly."

"Hey I'm hungry and I'm eating for two now," Lorelai replied.

* * *

A few days later, April flew in from New Mexico. Anna allowed her to fly by herself. Luke and Lorelai met her at the airport. Since it was now the summertime, April was going to spend that time in Stars Hollow with her father and Lorelai. The first holiday after Luke and Lorelai were once again a couple was the first time that April and Lorelai really spent quality time alone together and they quickly bonded. Rory was also scheduled to come back to Stars Hollow that day from New York, where she worked as a journalist at the New York Times. After graduation she went on the road following the presidential campaign. Some of her articles gained popularity and she was offered a job at the New York Times which she graciously accepted.

Lorelai was sitting in the living room talking to Luke and April when she heard a car door slam outside. She jumped up from the couch and ran outside to see Rory walking through the front yard. Lorelai ran across the yard and wrapped Rory in a tight hug.

"Oh I missed you kid," Lorelai replied.

"I missed you too," Rory replied.

"It's been months since your last visit," Lorelai said as she led Rory to the house.

"I was here at Christmas," Rory said walking up on the porch.

"And that was months ago sweets," Lorelai replied. She walked Rory into the living room where she was greeted by Luke and April. Paul Anka ran into the living room greeting Rory as well.

Once everyone was settled down, Rory looked over at her mother, "So what's the exciting news you said you had to tell me once I got here today?"

"Yeah, what exciting news do you have?" April asked.

"Well," Lorelai said trailing off, "You know that small room upstairs just down the hall from my bedroom, the room that doesn't have much of a use?"

Rory and April both nodded.

"It will have a really great use now," Lorelai said smiling, "Because Luke and I are having a baby."

"You're pregnant?" Rory asked excitedly.

Lorelai nodded, "I'm pregnant."

Rory jumped up from her seat and hugged her mother, "I'm so excited for you guys," she said before hugging Luke as well.

April hugged Lorelai first then hugged her father, "I'm excited for you two as well."

"So in a few months, you will have a baby brother or sister," Lorelai replied.

"Or it could be twins like your dream," Rory reminded her.

"Ahh the dream," Lorelai said. "Well I did have a sonogram done and the doctor didn't say anything about twins but it could just be too early to tell."

Luke's eyes widened at the mention of twins. Lorelai laughed when she saw his face, "We can handle twins. Ooh if we have a girl we can name her Lorelai."

"We are not naming our baby Lorelai, you already named Rory after yourself," Luke grumbled.

"It's a good name," Lorelai replied.

The family all started throwing out possible names for the baby even though they would not know the gender for a number of weeks. Rory and April discussed whether they wanted a baby brother or a sister; both agreeing that it didn't matter. Lorelai said she kind of hoped the baby was a boy so that Luke would have someone to teach how to play baseball and how to fish. They discussed how they were going to set up the nursery.

* * *

Nine months later, Luke and Lorelai brought William Richard Danes home from the hospital. As soon as they got home, Lorelai carried him upstairs and placed him in the crib. As he lay there sleeping, Luke walked up behind Lorelai and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back against him as they watched William sleep. Lorelai titled her head up and smiled at Luke.

"What?" Luke asked when he noticed Lorelai smiling at him.

"I love you," she replied.

Luke smiled, "I love you too."

* * *

**So that's it for the story, it's over. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed this story. I had it as a one-shot at first but decided to continue it. I hope you enjoyed it.**

**If you ever have any ideas for stories or challenges that you want to throw my way then go ahead and do it. I'm willing to accept challenges and your story ideas. Just leave it as a review or send me a message!**


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